


Gone Native

by PhoenixPixie23



Series: Gone Native Collection [1]
Category: The Host - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-08-04
Updated: 2017-06-10
Packaged: 2017-11-11 09:45:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 59
Words: 133,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/477189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoenixPixie23/pseuds/PhoenixPixie23
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Burns Living Flowers is just a Soul with a conscience and a crazy human named Nate for a best friend. He's doing his best to save the human race from being taken over by aliens, but it's not as easy as it sounds. This is his story, come along for the ride as he arrives on earth, meets Nate, and begins saving the humans that become his family. I don't own The Host, SM does, but all original characters are mine. Please R&R</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Insertion

**Author's Note:**

> Hi and welcome to Gone Native! Just a quick little clarification for the sake of this story: Burns is not Wanda. Burns is still very much a Soul; he's kind, has trouble lying, hates violence, etc, but his life experience makes him a different Soul than Wanda is. Just keep that in mind :) Anyway, I've had a lot of fun exploring Burns and Nate's story, particularly as they add new members to their gang. I hope you enjoy the ride! -Pixie

**Prologue:**

The flashlights momentarily blinded me, my eyes reflecting the light, betraying my identity. So now they knew. I had been fooling them for years, but the gig had to end sometime. I had desperately hoped to remain undiscovered for a bit longer. A lot longer. Forever would have been nice. It was too late for that now. I was running as fast as I could, my purpose so intense that I was beyond words.

Seemingly ordinary images and memories flashed through my head. Fire. A college campus. Orange aprons. Pearl Street. A snowy mountain road. A mansion on a cliff. A hidden cabin in the mountains. The bang of a gun. A bookstore. A secret room. Cold concrete walls. A Christmas tree. A purple teddy bear. A pink dress. A home-cooked meal. A beat-up old truck. An old white farmhouse. Endless fields of corn and wheat. A swingset. A sunset. A sketchbook. A faithful dog. A warning song. A pair of old boots. A bit of white lace. A soft pink blanket. Florescent lights in a healing facility. The dark stank of a jail. Pouring rain. Tears of joy. Tears of pain. Tears of loss. And faces. So many faces. Every age, every color, with one thing in common: they all had clear eyes. Human eyes.

My love for them spurred me on, each pounding footstep echoing the names of the people I loved. My family. I would not allow them to die. No matter what, I would keep them safe.

* * *

This is a story of friendship. It's a story of loss. It's a story of courage, forgiveness, and growing up. It's a story of survival, betrayal, and loyalty.

But mostly, it's a story of love.

It's a story that starts at the end, long ago and far, far away.

* * *

**Beginning: Part 1**

Fire World was where I was born, but it was  _not_  my home. As soon as I learned that the Walking Flowers were an intelligent species—a species that suffered absolute agony each and every time I ingested the nutrients that were vital to my host's existence—I knew I could not stay there. It made me sick. Murder.  _I had committed murder._  I would spend the rest of my short life on that planet trying to atone for my sins. I changed my name to Burns Living Flowers, constantly reminding myself and everyone who knew me that the Walking Flowers were sentient beings, creatures that lived and felt pain. From the moment I learned the truth, I stopped breathing in the smoke that came from the fire that tortured the innocent creatures. My Fire-Taster host body quickly became weak, and I truly meant to die there. Sacrificing my host's body in favor of all the lives I was saving—that I would otherwise be killing— seemed like a worthwhile cause. I struggled on in this way for ages, but even the pain of starvation could not make me kill again. Eventually, I lost consciousness from hunger and weakness. I welcomed the darkness. It was my freedom.

* * *

The sensation that awakened me was one that I never expected to feel again, yet it was completely unlike anything I had ever felt before. I was being inserted into a new host. I secured myself quickly, instinctively. The language of my thoughts was familiar to my new host body and brain, but I was certain I had never heard it before. The dilemma this presented was enough to occupy my thoughts for a quite a while, but my confusion was interrupted before I had made any progress figuring out what it all meant. My body launched itself into what I quickly surmised to be a memory—but the memory was of a world that was completely new to me.

My brain supplied the names of all the things I was seeing: trees, grass, fencing, a blue sky, a summer sun, towering mountains to the west, and an enormous house. More houses were on either side, separated by vast, sculpted lawns. The colors, the smells, they were all so overwhelming and new that I was temporarily lost until I noticed that I was moving—No,  _he_  was moving, walking, toward the door. He was distracted, thinking about a presentation he had in front of Marketing the next day, and his hand came automatically up to knock on the large wood panel door. Almost immediately the knob turned and a petite blonde woman with strange looking silver-blue eyes and a welcoming smile greeted him. He tore his thoughts away from his presentation and greeted the woman in a formal sort of way, his right hand extending to grasp her little white one.

"You must be Stephen, we've been expecting you, come right in" she said, as she shook his hand. "Don is in the living room; let's join him."

"It's nice to meet you Mrs. Wolf," he responded automatically, in a way that made it clear that such interactions were social obligation, "Thank you for inviting me over for dinner this evening."

"Oh it was our pleasure dear!" she exclaimed, as if his being there had made her day, "I hope you enjoy your stay!"

 _Stay? How long will I be here, I still have a Powerpoint to prepare!_  He thought anxiously, berating himself for not getting it finished sooner.  _I'll just have to think up some excuse to leave early._

"Just right through here, dear," she said, leading the way down a magnificent hall into a brightly lit room.

He had barely stepped through the door when he felt a mist of cold, odd smelling perfume being sprayed in his face. He had no time to react before he slumped to the floor, his mind going blank.

The memory came to a close, and it was not hard to figure out what had happened. I was on a new planet. I was unsure of which new planet, but that much was clear. I had just experienced the final memory of my new host, which meant that I was about to wake up to a new life—a life away from the pain of my old life. Of course the others of my kind would have stepped in and saved me; it was in their nature to preserve each other's lives. Just not the lives of…of… but I had no name for the creatures I had killed in my last life, the creatures I had tried to die for. The grief was so strong it nearly overpowered me, emotions far more impacting than I was used to. I struggled to overcome the pain, and took a deep breath to settle myself. There were muted voices in the background, but I ignored them as I focused.

Breathing. I was in control of that now. I could feel the chest area of my new body rising and falling, somewhat unevenly, as I calmed myself down. It was not very easy to do, these emotions were so strong, but after a few moments, I achieved an even level of breathing and I began to attend to the rest of me.

I searched for a while inside, figuring out how to move and communicate, and once I had accessed the areas of speech and movement, I opened my eyes.

"Welcome to Earth, Burns Living Flowers," Mrs. Wolf said, leaning over me with a smile. "Please take things slowly, I know things can be especially overwhelming in the beginning. Just lay there as long as you need, until you feel like you can sit up."

 


	2. Conviction

Three weeks passed, and I gradually settled into life on earth in a human body. I woke up a little more disoriented than most since my relocation was unexpected, and the Wolfs had to teach me quite a bit about what to expect on Earth. They educated me about history, culture, and unfamiliar vocabulary—I learned that our species was called Souls on this planet and that the nickname for my previous planet was the "Fire World" with the inhabitants called "Fire-tasters" and "Walking Flowers."

Though I had only experienced one other world, I could still tell that this one was unusual. Unique. I, perhaps more than those who had not lived on Fire World, understood violence and the need to assert dominance that some species felt. On Fire World, the Fire-tasters were the dominant species, and regardless of the fact that the Walking Flowers were intelligent as well, they believed they had the right to take other lives in order to preserve their own. And my kind had mimicked their actions without checking to see if the Walking Flowers were intelligent first.

The Wolfs informed me that the status of the Fire World was now being re-evaluated because so many Souls, like me, were upset about the disregard for other sentient beings. They also told me that the Walking Flowers were no longer being burned alive, but they were still being killed, which brought little comfort to me. On Earth, the need to claim supremacy was similar to the way it was on Fire World, except the humans seemed to do it amongst their own species as well. Brother against brother, father against son, it seemed like nothing was out of bounds. It bothered me; I had left the Fire World only to come to another planet where killing was commonplace. At least here I had the choice and did not have to kill to eat.

My host's body was in its twenty-seventh year, and he had been active and healthy. I did not really like my appearance much, though I would not dream of complaining about it to anyone. I was tall, 6'5", and I had freckles covering every inch of my body. My hair was a horrible ginger red, and my eyes were dark blue with the exception of where the silver that identified me as a Soul showed through. I actually liked my eyes, they were okay, but the rest of me was nothing special. The scar on my neck from the insertion was barely noticeable, though if you knew what you were looking for, you would find it without a problem.

Though my host had worked with Don Wolf at IBM in the marketing department, my calling was Grounds Keeping—I liked to be outside—so I left my job at the Boulder, CO IBM plant and began working on campus at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The campus was beautiful in the summertime, and I liked my work. Most students were at home for summer vacation, but there were some still on campus taking summer classes or working. I enjoyed observing them as I weeded the flower-beds and mowed the lawn, and I quickly picked up the difference between the Souls and the humans.

While the Souls were considerate, unhurried, and pleasant, the humans were rushed, stressed, and selfish. Despite their obvious failures and shortcomings, I found I was attracted to their charisma and joy when they got together. Their enthusiasm for life, most clearly displayed at sporting events and summer concerts, was incredible to see. They seemed to thrive in this environment, and I looked forward to school starting in the fall.

The Souls took advantage of Registration and Orientation, and by the third week of the semester, about 90% of the student body had been replaced by the Souls. I was surprised to find that I missed the enthusiasm and chatter that had been so evident the first day of school. Everywhere I looked, silver eyes stared back: students, professors, and staff.

This was all a part of the Souls goal to be completely colonized in two years or less, and they pulled out all the stops on places like college campuses. The Souls would invite clubs, dorm floors, sports teams and every other organized group to parties or meetings where they would anesthetize them and insert a Soul. The newly inserted Souls, inhabiting the human bodies, left mere hours later, completely changed. This method quickly transformed the most socially active students, those that were involved in the clubs and teams, or those that lived on campus, into Souls. All that were left were some of the commuter students—the loners, and in my opinion, they would be the hardest to catch without raising suspicion.

My job enabled me to spend lots of time near humans, though I rarely interacted with them. There were a few regulars that I saw everyday. They hung out on benches near where I worked, doing their homework or surfing the internet. In a roundabout way, I got to know them, their likes and dislikes, and their personality quirks and funny habits. I enjoyed my time spent with them, even if it was from a distance.

One day, as I was mowing the lawns near the Observatory—where the humans still hadn't confirmed that there was life on other planets—I noticed that one of my favorite regular human companions was not on her bench. Since she was such a constant part of my daily schedule, I automatically glanced around to see if I could locate her. I spotted her across the lawn, hanging out with a group of laughing students, smiling and twirling her long brown hair around her fingers as she spoke. Odd. She never did that. She was a loner in the truest sense of the word. In all the time I had been observing her, I had never seen her speak to anyone. She seemed content to just write on her laptop and listen to music, tapping her foot to the beat. This was not like her.

My curiosity got the best of me and I approached the group. I had not planned to talk to them, but when they turned to welcome me, I had no choice. I got a good look at her face, her silver eyes, and immediately understood. She was now a Soul. She smiled at me in recognition and greeted me.

"Hi! I'm Snow Falls on Ice, Snow for short, my host remembers you. She liked you."

This flustered me for some reason, but I managed to say "I'm Burns Living Flowers." It sounded lacking, even to my own ears, so after a slightly awkward pause, I added "Welcome to Earth," in a falsely bright tone. After another pause I asked, "What was her name?" I don't know why it mattered, but for some reason, I needed to know.

"Sadie—she liked your red hair" And then she added "Would you like to join us?"

But I said "No, thank you." because Snow was nothing like I'd been imagining Sadie, and I needed some time to come to terms with the change. Never again would Snow sit on the bench, of that I was certain. Sadie, the introverted human was vanished. The things that made her unique, different from everyone else, were no more. She was gone. For all intents and purposes, she was dead.

That was when I realized it. Sadie was dead, Snow had killed her when she was inserted, kicked her uniqueness out. And by being inserted into this human body, Stephen's body, I had killed him too. I was a murderer  _again_. We were all murderers.  _Murderers_. For what reason were we wiping out an entire species? I had no answer. We were no better than the humans in their natural form, declaring war on innocents. Emotions, so strong in this unfamiliar body, took control, and I abruptly sprinted to the nearest trash receptacle, violently sick.

* * *


	3. Decision

Before I knew it, it was the middle of October and fall was upon us. The campus was filled with colorful leaves, and their crisp crunch beneath my feet was invigorating. I was very busy working extra hours, preparing the campus for the long, hard, winter that Soul weathermen were assuring us would come. I was pruning, covering flowerbeds with compost to insulate them, and blowing out the pipes in the sprinkler system to keep them from freezing and exploding. I often worked later than everyone else. I enjoyed the work, and had no one to go home to, so I did not mind. Late one night as I was returning my tools to the Grounds and Service Center behind Folsom Stadium, I heard unintelligible panicked yelling outside. I rushed to the exit of the storage building, and as I opened up the door, a warm, solid body in an obvious hurry smacked into me, hard. We fell to the sidewalk in a tangled mess of arms and legs. The body, belonging to a man, extricated himself and got up quickly with the graceful movements of an athlete. I got up more slowly, apologizing as I did, until I heard another yell coming from the direction the man had apparently run from.

"Stop, go no further, we mean you no harm!" The voices were coming from near the stadium, and they were getting closer. I had nothing to hide and nothing to worry about, but the man next to me was panicking and clearly had no desire to be caught.

The man was busy looking frantically around for something, probably a place to hide. Seeing no good options, in desperation, he turned to me and when he did, I saw his eyes. Dark brown eyes. Human eyes. I understood in an instant.

"Please, please, help me, hide me, please, please." He whispered, desperately. His eyes were wide with fear and his movements were tense and jerky. He was absolutely terrified.

To this day, I do not know what made me do it, maybe it was the honest horror that shone through those human eyes, but after a split second's hesitation, I grabbed the door I had just come out of, pulling it back open, and motioned him to enter. The room was large with a high ceiling and filled with gardening equipment of every kind. There were plenty of places to hide, particularly in the large cabinet storage units that held the tools. The lights were still on from when I rushed out, and I directed him toward one of the storage cabinets, uttering a single word that he obeyed without hesitation.

"Hide!"

He rushed over to the cabinets and started to open the doors, trying to find one with enough room for him to climb in. He was not a big man, but was solidly built, with dark brown, almost black, hair and tanned skin. I guessed him to be in his thirties. Not 20 seconds passed before he was adequately hidden, and I looked around, unsure as to my next course of action. I had just betrayed my species by harboring this man, and I began to panic. What had I done? Granted, they  _were_  trying to take away his life in order to give his body to a Soul, but while I had worked through my feelings on the matter, I had not decided what I was going to do  _about_  those feelings.

I was not given time to think any of it through because the doors crashed open just seconds later and two large, male Seekers, both carrying flashlights, burst through. They saw me immediately and while one of them approached, the other began to search the room. I quickly schooled my features and turned to greet the Seeker. He flashed his light in my eyes, and I remained motionless, allowing him to see what he needed to see. Satisfied, he greeted me in a friendly manner. "Good evening. We have two escaped humans on the loose. It is imperative that we capture them as they accidentally walked in on an insertion. Have you seen anyone suspicious?"

But I did not get a chance to answer, because at that very moment the door crashed open again and another Seeker, this one a petite female, came running through. I took advantage of the momentary distraction to look around for the other Seeker. He was halfway around the room, three cabinets away from where the human man hid. I would not be able to lie to them, but I did not want to be responsible for the elimination of another human life, so maybe it would be better if they just found him on their own. There seemed to be no way out. The human would be caught, and his body would become host to a new Soul. The female Seeker skidded to a stop in front of us and exclaimed, "We got them. On the other side of the stadium. Come on, we need to be present for the insertions."

She motioned to the other Seeker, who followed her lead, and all three of them began jogging toward the exit. The one who had been talking to me turned and said, "Thank you for your help, it seems we have found them. Have a pleasant evening."

I did not trust my voice just then, so I simply nodded, still in shock, and I watched as they left the building, considerately closing the door behind them. I walked over to the door and locked it from the inside. All the other grounds keeping staff had gone home, so I knew we would not be disturbed again unless the Seekers came back.

I made my way over to the cabinet the man had hidden in and opened it up slowly. It had barely cracked open three inches when the man inside pushed it open and launched himself out, brandishing a hoe as a weapon. I staggered back a good six feet and stared at him in surprise. He turned on me with wild eyes, breathing heavily, and, holding the hoe in a ready position above his head, he charged. I had no time to react, no time to run away, no time to convince him I was trying to help him. I would not fight him. I was not a barbaric human, and I deserved to die anyway to atone for my sins in this and my past life. Ironic though, that the person who killed me would be the one man I had saved.


	4. Explanation

I waited, eyes closed, for a blow that never came. My heart was pounding so loudly in my ears that I did not hear him as he stopped just inches from where I stood. I summoned the nerve to look up into his face and we stared at each other, both of us too scared to do much more. He seemed to be fighting an internal battle: attack me or trust me? The hoe was still raised above his head, and I knew that if I was going to say something to stop him, now was the time.

"My name is Burns Living Flowers," I started, but I did not know how to go on. His eyebrows went up at the mention of my name—not exactly a normal human name—but I barely had time to notice this as I plunged deeper into my thoughts. I had no brilliant rhetoric prepared to convince him of my good intentions and I knew myself to be guilty of crimes against his fellow humans in the past. I had no way of knowing just how much he knew about the Souls and our invasion of Earth, and I was not about to start explaining it to him here, where the Seekers could be coming back at any time. We needed somewhere else to hide. I briefly contemplated the fact that I had included myself in this equation. I was going to help him.  _We_ needed somewhere to hide? What was I thinking? I had no idea; I just had a feeling that it was the right thing to do, so I said, "We need to get out of here in case they come back. Come back to my house with me and I will explain everything. We will be safe there"

"You'll explain everything? What do you know about it?" He asked in surprise. So, he didn't know anything except that he had seen some Souls being inserted into humans. And now I had included myself in their number.  _Dumb, dumb, dumb_! I berated myself. I should turn him over to the Seekers, but my disgust for the killings my kind had participated in, renewed at the thought of more human lives being sacrificed just tonight, overpowered me and I found myself attempting to lead him outside toward where my truck was parked.

Apparently he decided to trust me, and he followed me to the door. Once there, he stopped short.

He turned to me with fear in his eyes and said, "I can't go out there. They'll do the same thing to me that they did to my colleagues. To my friends." He was whispering by the end, and though I got the feeling that he was not afraid of much, he was even trembling slightly, though that could have been because it was only twenty degrees outside.

It was his look that broke me though. It alone convinced me to continue on the path I had chosen. I could not let him be caught.

Fortunately for me, the regular Souls, the ones that were not Seekers, were not a suspicious bunch, and with a little luck, we would be able to walk right out of here.

"Don't worry, they won't suspect you if you're with me." I encouraged, still moving. We had to get out of here. I opened the door up and stuck my head out. There wasn't a Soul in sight. I ushered him through and we proceeded directly to my truck. He was in a hurry, antsy with anxiety, but I put my hand on him arm, trying to calm him. "You need to act like nothing is wrong. You need to be calm and pleasant." I whispered urgently, "act like me."

He immediately looked over at me and tried to relax his features into a smile, but it was more of a grimace. Fortunately, the truck was not far and within two minutes we were on the road. Boulder is busy with lots of pedestrians, so the driving was a bit slow, and the human shifted anxiously in the seat every time we stopped at a light or to let someone cross the road. After fifteen minutes, we arrived at my house. I lived in a medium sized, two-bedroom house just north of town. My house was in a neighborhood, but true to Colorado country style, the houses were spread apart and had large lawns. This was the house that my host had lived in before I arrived, and it was every inch bachelor pad. The architecture and interior design were what the humans termed "modern" and I liked the clear-cut lines and bold colors.

I parked in the garage and we both exited the truck. My guest—I still hadn't gotten his name—stood still, unsure of what to do, until I gestured toward the door leading into the laundry room. We entered the house together, and I immediately fell into the part of hospitality coordinator. "Would you like anything to drink? To eat?" I began, mentally calculating what was in my cupboards and refrigerator. I was just turning to get something when his voice stopped me.

"No. I want to know what is going on, and I want to know now. You seem to know. Tell me." It was a command in the most urgent sense of the word, and I knew that I had left him waiting too long. He was going to spontaneously-combust here soon.

"Sit down. It's a long story." I paused, taking a deep breath, and sat down on the leather sofa, motioning him to sit in the matching lazy-boy across the room. Distance between us was a good idea, just in case he decided to attack me, which I reminded myself was still a real possibility. Humans were dangerous and unpredictable, and despite my sympathies for them, I needed to be aware. "My name is Burns Living Flowers," Eyebrow quirk again, he still thought it was a weird name, "and I am a Soul."


	5. Question

I pulled in to the garage, exhausted from a long day at work, and trudged inside, once again wondering what had possessed me to rescue Nate. Nate, as I now knew he was called, had not taken the news of the downfall of his species well. I had explained about the history of the Souls—The Origin and how we used our Spider selves to expand our territory. I told him about the other planets that we had colonized and I told him about how a Soul is everything good—at least when we are amongst ourselves. I told him about the Fire World and how I had tried to die, and then I told him about Sadie, the girl who sat on the bench at school while I mowed the lawn, and how she had made me realize just what we were. I admitted my confusion and confessed to feeling like a traitor for saving him, but explained how I did it anyway because I knew I could not take part in the death of one more intelligent life form.

He did not believe me at first. He thought it was some kind of joke—though why humans joke about such things is beyond me—and actually laughed when I told him about the Sea Weeds and the Flowers. I could tell things began to make sense, though, when I explained about the peace-loving Soul mentality. In the last few years, he had watched his planet completely get rid of weapons of mass destruction and saw nations like Israel and Palestine that had feuded for years reconcile their differences. Of course this had only happened _after_ the Souls targeted world leaders in one of the first placements of Souls on this planet; humans would have never come to such a swift agreement on their own. I finished my explanation off with a sincere apology for my part in the process and a quick tutorial on how to know a Soul is a Soul—mannerisms and the silver-eye-reflection thing, so he could blend in if he ever went out, along with a special warning about Seekers.

He'd been completely silent for ten long minutes while he processed, looking more and more ill, and then he got up and ran to the kitchen sink to throw up. The silence was frustrating, but I didn't blame him for that last part. I  _had_  done the same thing. He had come back to his chair looking pale and determined, and then he asked me a question that I did not expect: "What about all the rest of the humans, are you going to save them too?"

That had been last week, and I still did not know what I was going to do. Saving all the rest of the humans in theory seemed like a nice thing to do, but the consequences of such an action would be far reaching and probably rather disturbing. I had told him that I would think about it, and I suggested that he stay with me, for his own safety. For the time being, Nate was sleeping in my guest room, staying out of view.

My thoughts still full, I entered the kitchen, calling "I'm home" to Nate. He wasn't around, which was unusual since normally he practically pounced on me as soon as I walked in, desperate for some kind of social interaction. It seemed like the man never ran out of energy, and being cooped up all day was wearing on his patience.

At CU, Nate had been an assistant coach for the football team—such a  _violent_ sport, I did not know how he could enjoy it so much—and he had been called to a late night meeting with the other assistant coaches. He and two other assistant coaches had been running late and arrived in the conference room after the Head Coach had already anesthetized the one of the staff members. He was laid out on a gurney with bright lights shining down on him, and the Coach was making the incision with the scalpel when the other Souls in the room noticed the intruders. Nate had quickly stepped around the corner, and somehow no one had seen him behind the other two. After witnessing them trying to capture the two other assistant coaches, he had taken off running in the opposite direction and had miraculously avoided being seen at all. He had extreme survivor's guilt now, knowing he had escaped while the others had been lost. His fury was silent and brooding, and it was all directed toward the other Souls. I was still amazed that he had not blamed me. Instead, he claimed that I was 'the only sane one of the bunch.' Ha. More like the only  _insane_  one.

I was so preoccupied that it was a few minutes before I realized that I was still standing alone in the kitchen. I called out to Nate again, louder this time, wondering what was keeping him.

"Nate!"

"Coming!" he called, and it sounded like he was downstairs. Most homes in this area had a basement, but mine was unfinished and I had never even bothered to go down there. It was being used as storage for some of my host's old things and I saw no reason to worry about any of it now. Nate came running up the stairs and entered the kitchen with a smile, the first genuine one I'd seen since I met him.

"I've decided to make the basement into a secret hideaway for humans like me. You can save them and bring them here, and I'll take care of it from there!"

Whoa, when had we agreed that I would be saving more humans? He clearly had been alone too much; the solitude was making him hear things. My face must have registered my surprise, because he quickly added, "If you're ok with it, that is. I didn't figure you were attached to any of the stuff down there, and it is a bunch of empty space, there are even hookups for a full bathroom. It would give me something to do. Please?"

Yeah, bringing home a human hadn't been one of my better ideas, I sighed.


	6. Abduction

The first argument I'd ever had in my life was with Nate over rescuing the rest of mankind and housing them all in my basement. I did  _not_  win, which was why, two days later, we were on our way to Home Depot. He had wasted no time at all drawing up plans for the basement, separating it into two large sleeping rooms, one common room, and a big bathroom with two showers and multiple sinks. I had no idea how a ton of argumentative, impatient humans were going to survive in such an itty-bitty space—well, to be fair, it wasn't  _that_  small, about 1000 square feet— but Nate was not worried. He was certain that they would be so grateful for their lives that they would get along in harmony.  _Yeah, right._

I had insisted that Nate come with me because I had no idea what to get. If we had any chance of doing this right, he was going to have to come along. So, he was wearing sunglasses. I was hoping that the Souls trusting nature would get us through this, because not only was it cloudy, but we would be shopping inside and Nate was going to stand out like a sore thumb wearing dark glasses. Hopefully no one would put two-and-two together.

It was a Saturday and the parking lot was crowded, but we parked in the closest spot we could find, and headed into the humongous warehouse. We loaded up on lumber, drywall, paint, bathroom fixtures, and a ton of tools and other supplies that I did not have the slightest understanding of. When we were finished, we headed toward the checkout. On our way up to the font, we heard something that immediately had my heart sinking in my chest. Angry shouting. I understood far more quickly than Nate did, so I watched as understanding dawned, and he looked at me with an expression of hope and excitement. Of course no  _Soul_  would make such a scene, much less get that upset in the first place.

"Awesome, our first recruit! Let's go get him!" He practically bounced with excitement.

"Wait!" I grabbed his arm and pulled him aside. "It's too soon, the basement isn't ready." More importantly,  _I'm_ not ready.

"We gotta take the opportunities presented to us. It's now or never for him. Let's go." He tried to pull on my arm; I tugged it back.

"I still have to check out. You get him." Nate nodded and jogged off in the direction of the voice. I continued on to the checkout, and got in line. I had just reached the conveyor belt to load the smaller things when I heard something that stopped my heart cold. The checkout attendant was talking to the woman in front of me, and from their conversation, it was clear they were both Souls.

"The Seekers have been called, they are about two minutes out. Humans are  _so_  violent and angry! I'm so glad this area is nearly settled!"

"Oh I know what you mean, they frighten me," the lady in front of me responded.

Seekers.  _Here_. Nate!

Abandoning my cart, I turned abruptly and ran to where the voices were coming from. Nate had grown on me the past week and a half, and I wasn't about to let him get caught by a Seeker  _now._  I rounded the corner and saw Nate pulling a bald, portly man, who was now yelling at and trying to kick Nate with his short, stubby legs, toward the exit.

"Let go of me you freak! I said let go! People, do you see what this guy is doing to me? This is assault! Let go!"

Nate, on the other hand, was acting brilliantly. I can't condone lying, but it was working. The crowd of Souls that was watching believed every word. "Everyone please back off." He said calmly, all the while towing the squat man toward the door, "We Seekers have this under control." He continued yanking, and the human continued yelling. When he saw me, Nate said "You there, you look strong. Please come assist me."

Of course I rushed forward to help. When I reached Nate and the angry man, I whispered in his ear, "The Seekers are coming. We have to get out of here  _now!_ " I turned to the man grabbed his other arm and helped Nate. With both of us tugging, we made much quicker progress, despite the human's greatest efforts to get free. He was also yelling "kidnapper!" but that didn't do much good as it was clear to every Soul in the store and parking lot that this was a human who was being taken away by a Seeker to be implanted. Nate's lip was bleeding, and his cheek was starting to bruise. Apparently things had been even more violent before I arrived.  _Humans!_  I was insane to be party to this.

It had started raining while we were inside, and we were all three getting drenched as we made our way slowly to the car. We were attracting a lot of attention, and that, even more than the imminent arrival of the Seekers, concerned me. Once they figured out that Nate was not a Seeker, there would be a dozen witnesses who could describe us and the kind of car we drove off in. I turned to the human.

"Quick, where is your car? We are not trying to kidnap you; we are trying to save your life. There are people coming who are going to try to kill you, you  _have_ to tell us where your car is."

He looked at me like I was crazy, but amazingly stopped yelling. He was just about to open his mouth to reply with something that may or may not have been helpful, when someone came running up to us. Nate jumped and looked like he was about to bolt, but I gave him a stern look and turned toward the newcomer with a smile. He was dressed in an orange Home Depot apron and had a canister in his hand. He beamed at Nate and said, "Hello Seeker, we found some Sleep. Please feel free to take it."

"Thank you so much!" Nate replied brightly, pretending nothing was wrong, even though inside I was churning with guilt. Nate's hands were full, keeping the irate man contained, so I grabbed the can out of the employee's hand and turned and sprayed it into the human's face, not giving him time to react. He immediately lost consciousness, and were he not supported by Nate, he would have slumped right onto the wet pavement. The Home Depot employee, seeing his services were no longer needed, gave us a polite nod goodbye and turned and headed inside out of the rain.

Feeling a little weird about having to invade his privacy, I reached into the unconscious human's pockets, trying to hide my actions from our audience. I found his keys in seconds, and saw, to my great relief, that his car had a remote. I hit the 'unlock' button and looked around for the car. A shiny silver Toyota Camry came to life just a few spots away from where we were standing, and I motioned to the vehicle with a nod of my head, "your new ride."

Nate looked confused but followed my lead, and within a minute we had stuffed the unconscious human in the back seat. I handed Nate the keys. "Meet me up on Boulder Canyon Drive. I'll bring my truck and meet you there."

I turned and left without a backward glance. Fortunately Nate trusted me enough by this time that he did not question my strategy, he just got in the car with the human and left immediately. Just in time. The Seekers arrived just moments after he pulled out of the parking lot. I breathed a sigh of relief, got in my own truck before they noticed me, and merged into traffic. We had escaped—for now.


	7. Emancipation

I drove up the Boulder Canyon without noticing the beauty around me—I was too worried that we had blown our cover. The aspens were changing, and the whole canyon was full of brilliant gold. The river was a bit low, but the winter snows would fix that. After about a half hour of winding roads, I spotted the silver Camry on the side of the road. I pulled off in front of it and signaled to Nate to follow me. We wound our way further up the mountain road, finally finding an obscure turnoff, a gravel road that led to magnificent houses on rocky cliffs. After twisting deep into the mountains for a few miles, I finally felt we were far enough off the beaten path, so I pulled over and got out. Thankfully, in typical Colorado fashion, the rain had stopped almost as quickly as it had begun, and the sun was peaking out from behind the clouds. Nate also exited his vehicle, and we both leaned against the car, taking in the beauty around us.

"So…" Nate began, "why did we take his car?"

"If we had all taken my truck, and anyone there had noticed which car it was, then they could have found my house and you wouldn't have been safe anymore. This way, we just find somewhere to ditch this car and they'll think you hitched a ride or traveled on foot. Even if they've got security cameras, which they might, no one will suspect me because I'm a Soul. You can no longer be seen in public, just in case they've figured out who you are. I'm guessing they've already got this guy identified, with Seekers stationed at his house in case he goes home. They probably also know the plates of his car, so we shouldn't leave it somewhere that can lead back to us."

Nate simply nodded. I had a feeling he was only beginning to understand what kind of trouble we had gotten ourselves into. Boulder was not safe for him or the new human anymore; they would be housebound for the rest of our time here. I was not naïve enough to think that we would get to stay here forever, but I had not realized that we might need to leave so soon. At this point, I could not see us lasting any longer than the winter.

Once again I was surprised at the direction of my thoughts, using 'we' and 'us' so freely, like Nate and I were a team. In a way I suppose we were. Huh. Who would have thought I would become friends with a human. Even after a week and a half of living with one, I was still amazed at the turn of events my life had taken. Was I ready to fully turn my back on my own kind? Could I lie to them to get us out of trouble, like Nate did earlier, pretending to be a Seeker? I was committed to keeping him alive, but even my deepest frustrations with the Souls as a species could not overcome my compassionate and forgiving nature. Couldn't we just all get along? I could never turn Nate, or even this new, ugly, smelly human, in to the Seekers, but could I abandon everything just to save them? When I looked at Nate, and I knew what my answer was. Yes. I would save them. As many of them as I could. No matter the cost.

We were both still silently musing when we heard a groan from inside the Camry. Wonderful. Hopefully he was in a bit of a better mood. And then he yelled. Well, a Soul can dream.

He proceeded to give us a pretty good cussing out. After a few minutes, Nate, having had enough, yanked the back door open, causing the angry human to fall halfway out the door and onto the ground. Strategically speaking, I was not sure angering him further was the best plan. Even if the guy was of a foul disposition, I was now committed to doing my best to save him, and making him so angry he would refuse listen to us was not helping. I was not about to let everything we had sacrificed be for nothing. It seemed that Nate and I had switched roles. Now I was all for saving this guy, and Nate looked like he was rethinking his brilliant 'save the humans' plan.

"Hey buddy, how 'bout a thank-you? We just  _saved your life!"_ he yelled, reaching out to shake him. I caught Nate's arm and held him off—I might run with humans, but I was still a Soul and I didn't want to see any more violence than necessary. Keeping Nate's right arm firmly in my grasp, I turned to the man and said,

"I'm Burns Living Flowers, and this is Nate. We are sorry we had to accost you back there, but please understand that your life was in danger. There were Seekers coming, and they…"

"My life  _was_  in danger? It still is! I'm being held captive by two lunatics!" He shouted, turning purple.

"We are  _not_  holding you captive!" Nate jumped in with a vengence, "We saved you from something way worse! In the last few years, aliens have taken over Earth! They're Souls and they take over the human body. The Soul is able to resume the human's life as if nothing has happened, except that it is a completely different Being controlling the body. Humans are angry, violent, and selfish, but Souls are kind, compassionate, honest, and good. When you started shouting at the store, it was like hanging a neon sign over your head that said 'I'm still human' and the Seekers were called. They would have captured you and inserted a Soul, and you would have died. We were only trying to help."

"You're insane! And I didn't want your help! Not that I believe your stupid story! You guys are crazy! Alien invasions! Oh my God! Just let me go!"

"You are free to leave at any time," Nate retorted, "but I'd stay away from your house, the Seekers are watching it. And they know what car you drive, so you need to ditch that too. Don't go into any public places either; they'll be looking for you. If they catch you, you're dead."

But he was _not_ free to leave at any time. While Nate's explanation was a little dramatic, he was right about one thing. If he went off on his own, this guy was going to be caught almost immediately, and his memories would be taken. Memories that included the two of us rescuing him. We had to make sure that he was never captured in order to save ourselves.

 


	8. Deception

We tried, unsuccessfully, to get the human to believe us, but he simply wouldn't listen. My arguments were rational and well thought out, but he was deaf to my brilliance. Nate tried to scare him into believing us, showing the man my reflective eyes, but that didn't work either. If he was not outnumbered two to one, and if Nate did not still have his car keys in his pocket, I am sure he would have  _tried_  to make a run for it. His short and stout body did not encourage confidence in his ability to  _actually_  run for it. I was having a very difficult time deciding what to do with him. I did not want to force him to do anything he did not want to do, but if we let him go, Nate and I would be in serious danger. My only hope was to convince him with words—the only weapon I was willing to use—that he needed to come with us.

As it happened, Nate took the decision out of my hands. While I continued my explanation to the human, Nate grabbed the Sleep that was sitting on the front seat of the Camry, snuck up behind the human, and sprayed it in his face. I was sitting a few feet away and was not quick enough to catch him as he fell face-forward, onto the ground. Nate didn't even try.

"Sorry, he was getting on my nerves. What's the plan?" he said, looking at me with a slightly smug expression on his face.

I gave myself a little shake to focus on what needed to be done, "We need to hide his car. Then I guess we go back to my house and hope no one suspected me of being involved."

Nate nodded his agreement, and between the two of us, we managed to shove the human, whose face was now bleeding from his fall, into the backseat of my truck. Then Nate got in the human's car and I got in my truck with the human and with him leading, both of us continued to wind our way up the gravel road that led toward nothing special. After about 6 miles, we stopped and hid the Camry under some foliage. Before we left, Nate quickly searched the car and found a few flash drives and a couple hundred dollars in cash. We grabbed it all. The plan was to make it look like Nate and the human had escaped into the wild. The terrain around here was steep and rough and would be time consuming to search, so hopefully it would give us some time to get back to the house and figure out just what we wanted to do.

Nate and I got back in the truck where the human was still out cold. We started to make our way down the gravel road, my hands knuckle-white on the steering wheel.

"I can drive if these roads are too curvy for you," Nate offered, looking concerned.

"It's not the driving. I'm worried that they are going to come question me and find you."

"Just lie." Nate said, as if it were the easiest thing in the world.

"It's not that simple."

"Sure it is, you say, 'I'm sorry Seeker, but I was just trying to help.'"

"I've never lied before."

"What!" He shouted in laughter, "How is that possible?"

"Souls don't lie. They don't deceive people. They are  _good._ "

Nate scoffed, "Yeah, right. Good. So good that they have taken over the world and killed everyone I know."

"I don't think I can lie."

"Well then, this whole idea of yours, to save the humans, is complete rot because you'll never be able to accomplish it if you don't lie!" Nate shouted, the impatience he had had with the human was now being turned on me.

"I'll be no good at it, I'm incapable." I said, as I pictured myself trying, I knew it would never happen.

"Well you'll just have to practice, because if you plan to harbor a bunch of wild humans in your house, you're going to have to get comfortable with it." Nate quipped, rolling his eyes at me.

Practice _lying?_  Not likely.

 


	9. Acceptation

I had a plan. As soon as we got home, Nate and I hauled the human into the house and deposited him on the sofa. Then I grabbed my laptop and began. Stopping only for a few seconds, every hour to spray our new friend with more Sleep, I worked until dawn. I was fortunate Stephen, my host, had been somewhat computer literate, because I had not bothered with technology since I had come to earth. Even then, Stephen had only known the basics, but it was enough tonight. Or I hoped it would be.

At 8 AM I stopped giving the human any Sleep. We needed to get this over with so that I could get some rest. At 9:30, he finally started to stir, so I hooked my laptop up to the big-screen TV, and took a deep breath. He opened his eyes, and the despair there tore my heart out. He may be an angry human, but he was scared to death. He sat up slowly, disoriented, and gave me a look that twisted my insides. I hoped this worked. Miraculously, he stayed on the couch, still a bit out of it. I grabbed the opportunity and clicked 'play.' A news anchor appeared on the screen, beautiful and poised, and began to speak.

"Good evening and thank you for joining us. Breaking news tonight, thousands of prisoners all across the country are being released for good behavior. Prison officials assure us that the attitude changes are permanent and that none of the released criminals are of any danger to the public." The scene changed to another news station with another news anchor,

"Tonight, the world was shocked with the news of an unprecedented peace treaty between Palestine and Israel. After literally thousands of years of feuding between the Jewish Israelis and the Muslim Palestinians, political leaders today announced that all hostilities between the two groups has been stopped, permanently. Already we have seen drastic changes in the area known as the Gaza Strip. This is the latest in a long line of unexpected peaceful endings to world confrontations, some of which have been around for centuries…" The screen faded to black, and a new video flashed to life,

"The United Nations today has unanimously agreed to destroy all weapons of mass destruction. Many world leaders have hinted that we might see something like this, and today we saw it come to fruition. Considering the overwhelming number of nations who have established or renewed peace treaties in the last few months, this move is not exactly surprising…"

The scene changed once more, and this time it was just a simple shot of children playing cards. Maybe 'playing' was the wrong word. They were preschool age—the age of biting, kicking, whining, arguing, and crying—yet these children, Soul children, were acting like miniature adults, perfectly poised and polite. They barely laughed at all, just smiled gently at each other, saying things like "no, you go first. I'd be happy to wait," and "would you like this card, it will help you get your set quicker?"

Finally, the scene changed to an insertion caught on tape. This was the first thing that the human, still sitting motionless on the couch, seemed actually interested in. He sat up a little straighter and moved to the edge of the couch. The he watched in awe as a Healer anesthetized a human, made an incision, and inserted a silvery, shimmering Soul. Before and after stills showed the difference in the eyes. When the newly inserted Soul woke up, he immediately turned to a Seeker and made arrangements to capture and transform the rest of the host's family and friends. The movie ended with the new Soul and the Seeker, leaving the Healing facility together. I turned off the TV and looked at the human expectantly.

He did not say anything, just stared at me, eyes wide. At that point Nate came into the room and sat down next to the human on the sofa.

"It's a lot to take in, but it's all true" Nate promised softly, "What can we do to convince you that this is real?"

"I don't know," the human whispered softly. It was the first time since we had met him that his voice was at a normal decibel. I was pretty surprised that he was still sitting there, I had expected him to try to run for it. I found myself glad that things had taken such a non-violent turn. He spoke again, "I need to go think about this. I need to get out of here."

"Ok, we'll take…" Nate began, but I interrupted.

"I'm sorry, we can't let you do that. If you leave and they catch you, your body and new Soul will lead them straight here. I wish that wasn't the case, but Nate's life would be at stake if you left."

The human's face twitched in response, like he was trying to control an angry outburst. Despite whatever effort he might have exerted, he lashed out at me with an angry snarl anyway, and Nate leapt up to come between us. The human did not attack me, though; he simply tried to run around me.  _Tried_  being the operative word there. He was much too slow. Nate easily grabbed him and held him still. All hope that my little presentation worked went out the window. I was getting the feeling that he had not been listening to a word we had said. I could feel the frustration welling up inside of me, and I pushed the feeling down so that I could speak with kindness.

"I really am sorry, I don't wish to hold you under house arrest, but it is not only Nate's life that I am saving by keeping you here. It is your own. If they capture you, you will cease to exist. Your body will simply play host to a Soul. You don't want…" But I never finished, because the human's cell phone rang. He looked fearful, like he expected us to grab it away from us, which, in fact, Nate was about to do, when I had a stroke of brilliance.

"Answer it and put it on speaker. I want you to do an experiment with me. Say everything I tell you to say, and if, at the end, you still don't believe us, I will drive you home. I promise." Nate was looking at me incredulously, but I was fairly certain that a Soul was on the other end of the line. The human looked at me curiously, but nodded his assent and did as I asked. It was clear he was only cooperating so that we would let him go.

"Say hello," I instructed.

"Recluse here," he said, Nate's eyebrow shot up and an amused smile flitted to his face.  _Recluse?_  That explained how he'd lasted so long, I guess.

"Eric, darling, how are you?" A woman's voice, sweet, southern, and cultured, came over the line, which made Nate's smile become even broader.

"Mom?" Eric the Recluse looked floored, and for a moment he seemed to forget about our agreement, "Um hi." he trailed off, an uncomfortable silence followed and his eyes got a distant look. I decided to let him navigate this one on his own, it sounded like it might just go the direction I was hoping it would.

"Sweetie, I was just wondering if you'd like to come down to Texas for a visit. Your father and I would just love to see you." The voice said, and Eric the Recluse choked.

Ok, maybe he could not navigate this on his own. I quickly whispered in his ear, "She has been inserted with a Soul. They want you to visit so that you can be inserted too. They've probably already heard about yesterday's little incident. Pretend like you've been inserted too. Act totally nice, like everything is wonderful."

His neck snapped around to look at me more closely, and whispered back, "Are you serious? My parents haven't spoken to me in 3 years, I hate them and they hate me."

"Exactly! They used to hate you, but now they are Souls and they not only want everything to be peaceful, they want you to be inserted too! Just pretend you are already changed like her! You agreed to the experiment, just do it!"

"Err, thank you Mother but I'm afraid I need to stay here in Colorado. I was just inserted yesterday after my…" he paused, looking to me for help.

"Host!" I whispered, "your host made a spectacle of himself in Home Depot!"

"After my host, err, made a spectacle of himself in Home Depot. And I need to stay here." He finished abruptly, and gave me a 'this isn't going to work, she thinks I'm crazy' look.

"Oh that's wonderful! I was just inserted a few weeks ago, and so was my host's partner, your host's father! Isn't Earth lovely! Is this your first time on Earth?" Eric's head shot up and his eyes went wide and he looked at me in complete panic. I knew I was going to have to end this quickly. I had made my point.

"Say you were born here. Your mother served her final life on Earth in one of the first placements. Just trust me."

"Um, I was born here. My, uh, mother, lived her, um, final life on Earth in one of the first placements."

"Oh! You're just a baby! Well, this is my third planet. I've been a See Weed and a Bat, but I like it here best, I think it will be where I stay. My partner and I chose to come here together, and he has been inserted into my host's partner. We are very happy with the arrangement. My name is Summer Sunrise and my partner is Sings of Great Happiness. You can call us Summer and Happy. We would love to meet you, though we understand if you need to stay put, get used to your new calling and all. I am a Healer and Happy is trying a new calling as a Comforter. We'd both love to have you visit!"

"Say thank you and that you have to go." I told him, and he looked relieved to have this awkward interchange over.

"It was nice to meet you, thank you for the invitation, but I have to go, um, to work. Goodbye."

"Oh, alright then, have a wonderful day. Goodbye!"

And he hung up. Not as smooth as I would have liked, but the Soul probably didn't think anything of it—we tended to trust each other implicitly. Eric turned and walked back to the couch. He collapsed in an exhausted heap and looked at me with absolute amazement.

"You weren't making it up. I thought you were making it up. I thought you were crazy. You aren't. You were telling the truth. Aliens actually friggin invaded earth. My mother! My father! I… I…"

"Yeah, didn't see that one coming, did you. 'Bout time you believed us" Nate smirked.


	10. Solution

For the next two days I was on pins and needles waiting for the Seekers to come question me, and on Monday at work, they approached me as I was raking leaves near Boulder Creek. I breathed a sigh of relief—at least they hadn't come to my house. There were two of them, a tall blonde man who looked as though his host had been a body builder, and a small woman with brown hair. Both smiled at me kindly. I took a deep breath and tried to remember everything Nate had been teaching me about lying in the last few days. Eye contact. Smile. Keep my hands down. Short, concise answers. Stick to my story. I had no confidence in myself whatsoever. Just desperation.

"Burns Living Flowers?" they asked.

"Yes." I said, my heart already racing. How fortunate I was that Souls do not suspect other Souls. How unfortunate that, if there were an exception to that rule, Seekers would be it.

The blonde man seemed to be in charge, he is the one who spoke. "I am Seeker Johnson and this is Seeker Sways in the Wind. Were you at the Home Depot here in town on Saturday?"

 _Breathe. You don't have to lie to answer this question._ "Yes."

"Did you assist a Seeker in removing a human who was causing a scene from the building?

 _Well, he wasn't a Seeker…_ "Yes." My hands flopped up, but I quickly pushed them back down to my side, my eyes, shifted, but I forced them back toward the tall blonde who was asking the question. I breathed, trying not to make it too noticeable, and calmed my racing heart. I reminded myself that this was to save Nate. I renewed my determination.

"Did you know that the man you assisted was, in fact,  _not_  a Seeker?"

"No." I tried to sound surprised, but it came out as a strangled squeak. I hoped they bought it. Panic began to well up; I pushed it down.

I think they could see that I was becoming unhinged, but they attributed it to the idea that I was distressed for helping someone get away. I hoped they finished quickly.

"Did the man say anything while you were assisting him that you remember and could tell us?"

"Um, he just kept saying to let the Seekers handle it, and could I help him, and he kept asking the man to please be quiet. That's it. After we used the sleep on the man, I helped him put him in the car and they left." I hoped I gave enough to be considered helpful, as every Soul should be.

The Seekers seemed satisfied, wrote something down in their notebooks and thanked me for my time. They left without further comment, and I slumped against a tree in relief. Once they were gone, I trudged toward my truck. I needed a long lunch.

At home Nate pounded me on the back in delight when he heard that the Seekers believed my story. I was not really in the mood to celebrate, and spent the rest of the day in my room, contemplating my decision. Lies versus murder. If I had to choose, I knew which one was worse.

On Thursday I found myself in a Home Depot for the second time in under a week. I had decided to drive to the Longmont store just in case anyone at the Boulder one recognized me. The Souls weren't suspicious, but I had left a cart full of building materials at the checkout stand, and that was something they would remember—I did not really want to talk about the incident. This time I was alone, and I was a little apprehensive about being able to get all the right stuff. For Nate's safety, I had made him stay home. Nate had given me what he called an "idiot-proof" list, but I found that I still needed to ask for help from one of the employees. After two hours of shopping, I finally had everything on the list, so I headed to the checkout. I was just pulling my wallet out to pay when the clerk stopped me.

"Oh, don't you know? Now that this area is mostly settled, there is no need for financial compensation anymore. You are free to go."

Initially I was a bit surprised that they had decided to implement this policy so soon, but I realized that in the two weeks since I had found Nate, I had barely seen any humans. Things were moving along more swiftly than I had thought. I didn't explain any of this to the clerk; instead I simply smiled and thanked him. I had a lot of stuff, so a few Home Depot employees helped me to the truck. As soon as the supplies were loaded in the truck, I thanked the Souls who helped me and got in.

I really did not want to go home just yet, even if I was a horrible Soul for feeling that way. Eric and Nate were not exactly getting along, and their constant bickering was wearing on me, so I was glad to be out of the house. Part of the problem was that, by now, Nate had adjusted to the news that aliens had taken over the world while Eric was still coming to terms with it. Nate was joking about it, and Eric cringed at every punch line. They were cooped up together all day while I was at work, and had no privacy. On top of that, Nate wanted Eric's help with the construction in the basement, and Eric had refused, point-blank, to help, which made Nate angry. He said Eric was lazy, which was true. Eric spent nearly all of his time on my computer. He'd been begging me to make a visit to his house to pick up his computer equipment, since apparently mine was out-of-date. All he had were a few of the programs from the flash drives we had rescued from his car, and barely any of them worked on a computer as ancient as mine.

I was not going to go get his computer equipment from his house because I did not want to risk exposure, but I was considering getting him some new computer equipment, just to make him shut up. Now that I didn't have to pay for anything, there was nothing stopping me from picking up the new computer now. And I would get to stay out longer. My decision made, I headed down the highway to Best Buy instead of turning toward Boulder. Once inside, I was approached by a smiling sales associate wearing the signature blue shirt.

"Welcome to Best Buy, how can I help you today?" he asked.

I decided now was a good time to practice lying again. In an atmosphere like this, it was highly unlikely that anyone would suspect me of anything, so I was about as free from pressure as I was going to get. I thought up a story as quickly as I could.

"My partner is a computer programmer and her computer is sadly out of date, or at least that is what she told me, and I'd like to get her a newer model, the nicest you have with all the extras. She is on her computer all of the time, and I really want it to be everything she needs."

The sales associate smiled wider, if that was possible, and said, "I think I have just the thing." Definitely believed the lie—I was getting better at this.

An hour later I was home, having special ordered the best computer available. With four quad core processors, 128 gigabytes of RAM, and a 5 terabyte hard drive, Eric was not going to have anything to complain about anymore! I entered the house to the smell of something delicious cooking in the kitchen. Eric may be a whiner, but he sure knew how to cook! We'd been eating like kings ever since he moved in. "What is that I smell?" I asked.

"Orange chicken." Eric grunted, from his position over the stove, "ready in five."

I collapsed on the sofa and yelled down to Nate. "Nate, dinner is ready and I am home with the supplies!" I could hear him charging up the stairs. He burst into the room with a look on his face that brought Stephen's childhood memories to mind, just like a kid on Christmas morning. I laughed; he was so easy to please. "It's in the garage." He whipped his head back and forth between the kitchen and the door leading to the garage. It was clear he wanted to go see all his new supplies, but the smell coming from the kitchen was heavenly. His decision to stay in the house to eat surprised me—perhaps he was trying to get along with Eric after all?

"I'll be able to get started tomorrow, this is great!" He enthused.

Together we dug in to the food, and as soon as we were done, I headed out with Nate to the truck. Hauling everything into the house took time, and it was past dark when we finally finished. I was sweating, even in the chilly fall air, and was looking forward to a shower and bed. Unlike the other two, I had work in the morning. Eric was already zoned in at my old computer, the dishes forgotten in the kitchen, and Nate was bounding around like a puppy dog, too excited to be still. Barely pausing to say "goodnight," I trudged down to my room, took a quick shower, and collapsed on my bed. Sleep came in minutes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So these are the first ten chapters of Gone Native. I have thirty total written so far, so expect the rest soon. I'd really like to know what you think of it and whether or not you'd like to see more. There is also at least one companion piece (so far) in the Gone Native Collection which gives a bit more background on Nate called "I Thought Gingers Didn't Have Souls?" so give that a look if you're interested. Thanks! -Pixie


	11. Inspiration

Life developed a rhythm. I worked 5 days a week, from dawn to dusk at CU, maintaining the grounds and preparing for winter. Though the calendar stated that winter did not arrive until December 21st, the winter solstice, I firmly believed that it was already here, even if it was just November. It snowed fairly often, and temperatures were in the single digits on a pretty regular basis. Working outside was intensely cold, but I would never complain.

While I was at work, Nate was busy in the basement, slowly transforming it into dorm-style living. Eric spent all his time on my old computer because his new one had not arrived yet, but he did still take time out to cook us delicious meals every morning and night. I was grateful, as neither Nate or I were culinary geniuses.

Though Eric remained aloof, Nate and I were getting along great. I was surprised at the depth of our friendship. Who would have thought that I would get along so well with a human—particularly one who coached football, an incredibly violent sport, for a living? He educated me on human customs and history and I taught him about Souls. He tried to get me to watch a football game with him on TV, but he turned it off in disgust after 5 minutes because the players were all Souls and refused to hit each other. I told him stories about life as a Soul. My knowledge of other worlds was limited because I had only lived on Fire World, but I remembered parts of my mother's life, and of course I had heard stories from other Souls who had traveled further than I had.

About a week after my trip to the computer store, I got a call that it was ready to be picked up. Excited, I told the guys that I needed to run an errand after work and would be later than usual. The day seemed to drag, until finally at around 5 o'clock, the sun was hidden behind the Flatirons. I rushed to my truck and drove to Longmont, obeying the speed limit like the responsible Soul that I was, despite my excitement. Once there, I hurried inside and approached the service counter.

"I'm here to pick up an order for Burns Living Flowers. A desktop computer."

"Oh yes, I have it right here," said a smiling employee, "would you like help carrying it to your car?"

"Thank you, but that isn't necessary, I have a cart right here and I think I can manage." I replied, smiling back.

Together we loaded the computer and its huge flat screen monitor into the cart, and I pushed it out to my car. It was freezing outside, but I was so keyed up I barely felt the cold. I might not have a close friendship with Eric, but I still wanted him to be happy. We Souls had hurt him so much, and I hoped that this gift would brighten his outlook on life. I carefully loaded the equipment into the truck and got back on the highway headed toward Boulder. In twenty minutes I was pulling in to the garage at my house. I hit the button to close the garage door, jumped out of the car, and rushed inside. Dinner smelled delicious, but even that could not distract me from my eagerness to give Eric his present.

"Before we eat, I have something to tell you Eric. I can't go to your house to get your computer stuff. I'm sorry."

"What! That's just ridic…" Eric, in typical fashion, exploded, but I interrupted, even though it was rude.

"So instead I got you a new computer. It is out in the truck, I hope you like it."

"You got me a new computer?" he spluttered, "Whatever you got me, it can't be better than what I had. I built it myself. Spent 6 grand on it."

"Why don't you just go take a look at it, and then decide if you like it or not. I can always return it." I did not bother to mention that it was free. He would learn soon enough.

"Ok, but I hope you saved your receipt." He grumbled, heaving himself out of his chair. He plodded to the door, in no hurry, and entered the garage. I followed, hoping that his reaction might change once he saw it. First his eyes fell upon the monitor, and his eyes widened. Nate and I carefully removed it from the back of the truck so that he could get a better look at the computer itself. His jaw dropped, and he started making garbled noises.

"I… You… How did you…? This must have cost… Are you sure…? A five terabyte hard drive? And 128 gigs of memory? Four quad core processors? Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God."

And then he fainted. And Nate guffawed in delight.

Leaving Eric in the cold garage, Nate, who couldn't stop laughing, and I moved the computer equipment into the bedroom that Nate had slept in at first, but was now occupied by Eric. Eric came to after about five minutes, and within ten he had everything out of the boxes. He spent the next half hour getting everything arranged and plugged in, and the following six hours installing software and adjusting his preferences. He did not eat dinner, and he did not sleep. When I was leaving for work at 5 AM, he was still awake, staring glaze-eyed at the big monitor, which he had mounted on the wall. Since he had forgotten to make breakfast, I decided to run through a drive through on my way to work. I had just slammed the door behind me when I heard him yell my name so I cracked the door open and stuck my head back inside. "What?" I hollered.

"I have something to tell…er, to show you. Whatever, just get in here."

Thinking I was finally going to get some gratitude for getting him the computer, I came back inside and headed down the hall. As soon as I got near his room, his familiar and disgusting odor wafted to my nose. Wincing, I stopped breathing in through my nose, using instead my mouth, and continued into the room. "What's up?"

"Ummm, I think I might have an idea. You know, to save the humans that are left."

That was unexpected. "Ok, what is it?"

"Well, I was curious about the Souls, about what they're doing to the humans that they catch. If they're doing experiments on them or whatever, and…"

I interrupted, "why didn't you just ask me about the Souls?"

"Well, I just, umm, I," he hedged, I got the feeling it was because he didn't trust me. Not altogether surprising, considering. He gave up on formulating an excuse and continued, "well, the point is, I hacked in to the police database and sorta found their files on known human survivors, ones that haven't been caught yet. Their security is pretty awful, they obviously haven't updated in a while; it was a piece of cake. Anyway, I have full files on every known human in the area that they haven't been able to capture yet, as well as the codes to listen to their radio channels as they are out trying to catch them." He pointed at the big screen, which had about two dozen files open on the desktop.

I was floored. Nate was going to be thrilled. I had been wondering how we were going to find whatever humans were left, and here Eric had figured it out on his own in one night. Crazy computer genius.


	12. Investigation

Nate was a man possessed. Ever since Eric had miraculously found the files for known surviving humans, he had barely slept. Half of his time was spent working feverishly on the basement, getting it ready for any new people we might manage to save. The other half was spent obsessing about the files that Eric had found. I could understand how Nate and Eric were encouraged to know that they were not the only ones left, but I doubted that we were going to be able to find anyone based solely on what was in the files, at least not before the Seekers found them first.

The files seemed to be of two types. First, there were hundreds of pre-invasion records of every human who had not been inserted with a soul. Most of these people had just disappeared overnight, and my guess was that they had high-tailed it as far away from here as possible after stumbling into the truth. These files alone were dead ends as there was no indication in any of them that these people had been spotted since their disappearance. Both Nate and Eric had files in this category.

The other files were incomplete records of suspicious activity, clearly human, in the last few months. Most of the files didn't even have names attached to them, and only very, very few had pictures. At best, there was a last known location, or a list of run-ins and break-ins that the human in question had somehow survived. Using complicated face-recognition software, a program that was designed to pick up patterns, and his own sense of logic that completely baffled me, Eric had compared the two sets of files, trying to see if he could combine some of them to get complete files. Surprisingly, he had had limited success. Arguably, and it was impossible to know for sure, fifteen people showed up in both lists, but even with the information combined, we had very little to go on as it was doubtful the humans would occupy the same place for long. Personally, I believed that the files were a complete waste of time—I thought we were going to have the best luck just listening to the Seeker's radio transmissions. I figured if we could intercept the humans as the Seekers were trying to capture them, then we had a real shot at saving a few lives.

At my suggestion, and with Eric's help, we set up a radio down in the basement for Nate to listen to while he worked. Tuned in to the Seeker's transmissions, Nate was able to monitor their progress in finding surviving humans while he worked. Eric was listening too, but he had a tendency to zone in to his computer so much that he did not hear anything on the radio, so I was guessing Nate was going to be the one who noticed when the Seekers were after a human. When I was home, I helped Nate in the basement. He had almost completed the bathroom, which seemed like the hardest part, and was looking forward to moving on to the two dorm-style bedrooms. He did all the complicated stuff; I just helped with the grunt work. It was during our time downstairs, working on plumbing and drywall, that I learned the bits and pieces of Nate's story.

He had grown up in Berthoud, a small town North of Boulder. His dad built houses, back when the economy was good enough that new houses were in demand. His mom stayed at home and took care of her men—Nate was the center of her world. Nate was known as the class clown, he would stay up late, ignoring his homework, memorizing Saturday Night Live skits to perform for classmates the next day. He thought laughter was the best part of life. He was not the best student, but he was the best athlete, and by the time he graduated from high school, he had distinguished himself as one of the best wide receivers in the state. The University of Colorado practically begged him to come play for them, and he was thrilled to accept the full scholarship they offered him. He played up until his senior year and was considering the pro draft when things all went sour. During the biggest game of the year, the CU-CSU game, Nate took a hard hit from the CSU defensive back and cracked his C1 vertebra. He was fortunate that it was no worse than it was. With some surgically implanted stabilizing metal plates and screws he recovered fully in a few months, but he would never be able to play football again.

In the midst of his recovery, his mother was diagnosed with Stage IV ovarian cancer. They called it a 'silent killer.' They tried chemo and radiation, but all it did in his opinion was make her last few months more miserable. She was gone before Christmas. His father couldn't handle the news—he had never been the strong one, and he began drinking…and driving. Nate was still lost in his grief over his mother when he got the call from the Colorado State Patrol, his dad had driven into a tree and died instantly. Nate said he was honestly just grateful he had hit a tree and not another person.

Nate said he did not know what made his old coach do it, but one day during his physical therapy, the head coach of the CU Buffs walked in and offered him a job. For the first time in over a year, Nate felt hope, and he immediately accepted. For the last five years, he had been working for CU. He was around football again, around people, and he finally felt alive. It probably saved his life. He started at the bottom with grunt work, but eventually he became the Assistant Coach for Wide Receivers. He was incredibly young to have the job, and probably one of the most inexperienced people available, but he got along with the players and the other coaches, and he got results—to the head coach that was what mattered. Nate was grateful for the opportunity and looked to the head coach as a father.

It was clear by now that the head coach was no longer himself—he had been the one to call the late night meeting where the insertions Nate witnessed were being done. Nate was heartbroken, but it was what was driving him to save as many people as he could. He was determined even to save grumpy people like Eric, though Eric had been much happier since I got him his computer.

I pondered all of this as we worked. All the pain of this world, the intensity of the emotions, and yet, it worked the other way too. The feeling of joy and love were just as forceful. There was something special about this world. Something that I was not sure I would find anywhere else. Nate had experience so much already in his young life. My heart ached for him, ached for his mother. I knew that Souls had the ability to cure cancer. How much of his pain we could have prevented, yet how much of his pain we had caused. I was so lost in thought that I barely heard Nate yelling in my ear.

"The Seekers are after some humans! The radio says they're on Pearl Street! We have to go NOW!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So cracking your C1 vertebra, technically breaking your neck, would seem like a horrendously life-altering injury, and it definitely can be, but sometimes you can fully recover. There is a pitcher (Juan Nicasio) for the Colorado Rockies who was hit in the head by a ball last August which caused him to fall and break his neck (I was at the game, it was incredibly scary). He had surgery, recovered, and is a starting pitcher again this season. A miraculous recovery. Don't forget to review!


	13. Extrication

Nate was  _not_  happy. Eric had refused to come along on our little rescue mission, which I personally thought was a good thing. Eric was not in shape at all, and on top of slowing us down, would likely argue with us every step of the way. Nate and I were a team; it was better that we went just the two of us. I kept my opinion to myself because Nate was not happy with me either. Nate wanted to be speeding through the near-empty midnight streets of Boulder, but instead, I was carefully driving the speed limit. I understood his urgency, and I felt the adrenaline rush myself, but drawing attention to ourselves before we even got started would not be a good idea, so I continued on at the posted speed limit, an agonizing thirty-five miles per hour.

The good news was that the object of our mission, three humans hiding somewhere on Pearl Street, seemed to be doing pretty well for themselves. The Seekers had no idea where they were. We had brought the portable radio with us in the truck and Nate was twitching in his seat with anxiety, clinging to every word that came through the portable device.

We were getting closer to Pearl Street, and the roads were getting more crowded. I realized with chagrin that it was Friday night and Pearl Street, even at midnight, would likely still be busy, even when it was only ten degrees outside. Granted, most people would be hovering inside, but people would still be going from the restaurants to their cars. This was not going to be easy.

The portion of Pearl Street that we were headed toward was a walking mall that was a destination for locals and tourists alike. Filled with art studios, specialty stores, incredible restaurants, and street performers, Pearl Street was famous as a go-to Colorado destination. Now that the Souls were in charge, the homeless people who wandered around begging for money and most of the street performers, who were often homeless themselves, had disappeared. Since many of these people were undocumented, I was unsure if they had escaped or if they had been inserted. My guess was a little bit of both.

Whoever these humans were, they were doing such a good job hiding that the radio was very little help. Other than knowing they were somewhere on the Pearl Street Mall, we knew very little. The street was pedestrians only, but the cross streets were vehicle accessible. Nate and I decided to park the truck at the center cross street so that whichever direction we were coming from, we did not have far to run, since we were pretty sure we would be running.

I pulled into an empty spot less than a block away and Nate was out the door before I had put the truck in park. He looked just like the football players on the old game videos he showed me, ready to tackle somebody. I got out more slowly and took a deep breath.

"Okay. Here is an extra set of keys to the truck. If we get separated, just take it and go, don't wait for me. They won't suspect me, it's you who's in danger. Don't act suspicious, don't run, don't hide, don't do anything to attract their attention, this place is crawling with Seekers. Be careful. Don't get caught."

Suddenly Nate looked at me with concern.

"What if I do get caught?"

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I had no idea what I would do if that happened. No idea how to save him. "Just don't get caught. Do anything you have to to escape." Nate nodded seriously at my instructions and I struggled with yet another moral boundary line. I had told him to do anything. Anything could be interpreted to include violence, which I was not sure I was okay with. Now was not the time to be questioning how far I would go, though, so I pushed aside the thought and surveyed my surroundings.

We walked toward the mall together, both scanning the streets for anything unusual. I spotted the Seekers almost immediately; they were not even trying to blend in. With their duty belts, flashlights, radios, and determined demeanors, it was impossible to confuse them with someone who was here to socialize. I counted at least fifteen, just in my first glance. If so many Seekers could not find these humans, how were we going to be able to? Suddenly I was sure we were doing the wrong thing. All we were going to do was get Nate caught. We had to go back. I turned to him, my decision made, when he cut me off.

"Don't even say it. I know what you're gonna say, and don't. It's dangerous, yes, but we have to do this. If they come up to question me, I'll high-tail it to the car and I'll meet you in a few days. I packed some survival supplies in the truck, I'll be ok. We  _have_  to save these people, we are their only hope, I am  _not_  going home."

"But what if th…"

"No! Burns, don't you get it? They'll  _die_  without us! We are doing this! Or at least I am, you can go home. If you'd be nice enough to take a cab so I can have the truck though, that'd be great." Nate was breathing deeply, the freezing temperatures causing his breath to cloud in front of his face. His cheeks were a deep red and his dark hair was sticking out from under his hat. His eyes were steel, determined, and I knew there was no turning back. I was not leaving him now. If he was staying, I was staying. I took a deep breath.

"Let's do this."

Nate exhaled in a laugh, "Well, alright then!"

By now we were on Pearl Street amongst the Souls and Seekers. The shops had closed, but many of the restaurants were still open. We were in the center, so Nate and I simply walked down the street as if we were headed toward a restaurant on one end. He scanned the left and I scanned the right, but like the Seekers before us, we found nothing. When we got to the end of the street we turned around and started to walk back.

We were nearly back to where we parked our car when a commotion broke out on the far end of the mall, down where we had not yet walked. Someone was up on the rooftops, and the Seekers were swarming.

Nate and I looked at each other in alarm, triumph, elation, and fear. We had found them. Now how were we going to save them? Fortunately for me, Nate thought quickly on his feet.

"You get the truck and pull as close to that rooftop as you can, honk, run people over if you have to, just get there, okay? I'm going up."

"Let me go! They won't hurt me if I get caught! You get the truck!" I insisted, as various scenes played out in my mind, none of which ended with Nate still human.

"No, I'm going to have to tackle these guys to get them out of the way. You wouldn't. You couldn't. We don't have time for this, just go!" And he was gone.

I saw him running down the street toward all the activity and I was frozen watching him until I realized that I needed to get to the truck if he had any hope of surviving. I was only a few hundred yards away, but I was shaking so badly that it took me two tries to unlock the car, and three to turn it on. Once the car was on, I knocked out a parking meter in my haste to pull out of my slot, but I ignored it as I whipped around the corners and toward Nate. The street was blocked off by a Seeker, and it was only my absolute terror that Nate was going to get caught that propelled me through his stop sign. I was distracted, barely looking where I was going, hoping people were getting out of my way, searching the rooftops for Nate.

I found him. The spotlights were all over him. He looked just like a football player, rushing down the line. No one was stopping him; anyone who tried was deflected by his elbows, his shoulders, his knuckles. I saw him push a few people off the roof and I cringed, but I did not have time to worry about that now. He was rushing toward a darkly clothed man, who I assumed to be the human, and he was shouting something I could not understand.

I shook myself out of my daze to realize that Seekers were converging on me, and I rolled up my windows, locked my doors, and pulled on a mask and dark glasses that were lying on the seat. While the Souls would never suspect another Soul of helping a human, putting evidence right in front of their eyes was not a good idea either. It was important that I cover up my identity when I was in the presence of humans. Nate had thought of everything. I laid on the horn, revved my engine, and pulled as close to the building that Nate and the other human were on top of as I could, not an easy task as there were many other vehicles and people crowding around it. I knew we had only seconds before a Seeker vehicle boxed me in, and my hand was on the door, prepared to run for it.

The whole truck shook and I thought someone had rear-ended me when I realized that Nate and our new human companion had actually jumped from the rooftop, over 15 feet up, into the bed of the truck, Nate was pounding on the window, screaming "Go! Go!" and I pushed the gas to the floor, knowing this night was not even close to over.


	14. Realization

I skidded around a corner, having no idea where I was going. My head was a blur of thoughts, none of which were rational. The one thing I could consciously focus on was escape.I blasted through stop signs, easily going double the posted speed limit, while my head whipped from side to side, checking for pursuers. We had caught the Seekers off guard with our rescue attempt, and they were a few blocks behind us, but their cars, three small foreign jobs, were better equipped for a high-speed chase, and my old Ford could not handle the pressure. As if on instinct, I had led our pursuers up the Canyon, where radio reception was limited.

Nate stuck his head through the back window and though I only allowed myself a split-second glance at him, I was awed by his control and determination. He was clearly very calm, and I was relieved because the adrenaline rush my body was forcing upon me was overpowering.

He uttered only a few words: "Find some obscure side roads and lose them," before sinking back down into the bed of the truck.

We were twisting and weaving around the turns, the river glistening in the moonlight, until I found a promising looking side road. I took it much too fast, and only one of the cars kept up with me. I continued winding up the mountain, taking every turn at breakneck speed, completely forgetting that there were two unrestrained passengers in the back, in the freezing cold. I had turned off my lights as soon as we left the highway, and that made the ride even worse as I hit every pothole. The portable radio had lost reception of the Seeker channel almost as soon as we entered the canyon, and I was certain the Seekers had lost communication with their base as well, and perhaps even with each other. Soon we were on unpaved roads, and the distance between our cars lengthened as my truck finally had the advantage. We drove for what seemed like hours, but was really only 45 minutes, and the two cars that had missed the first turn nearly caught up. I was feeling desperate, knowing I was not the best driver in the world, knowing the lives of these two humans rested in my hands, when the road ahead forked.

The option on the left was clearly for four-wheeling only, the ruts in the road were a foot deep in places. The one on the right was much smoother, and would be a nicer ride, a quicker ride. It took me only a second to make the decision. I veered left, knowing the small cars would never be able to follow. Within seconds, they had fallen several car lengths behind, and in minutes, they were out of sight. The ride was horrendous, bouncing all over the place, but I kept on, determined not to get stuck. Unfortunately, the higher we got, the more snow there was, and soon I had to slow down to a crawl. Not long after that, the road became impassable, and I stopped the car in defeat.

We were stuck. In November. In the Rocky Mountains. And we were being hunted.  _Fantastic._

I jumped out of the toasty cab into the frozen mountain air, hoping one of the other two had a brilliant plan to get us out of this mess. As I turned to talk to Nate and the new recruit to see what the plan was, something caught my eye. There was a puddle of sticky red stuff on the bed of my truck. Understanding was not long in coming. It was blood. The new guy was leaning over Nate, applying pressure to his leg, which was apparently the source. Nate was unconscious, and even in the darkness I could see that he was deathly pale.

"What happened!" I gasped, as my stomach rolled.

"Gashed his leg on something when he jumped off the roof. Not sure what." The new guy replied, clearly very focused on what he was doing. "You got first aide stuff?"

"Um…" I trailed off, looking around at the supplies Nate had packed in case he had to run, "I'm sure he packed some. Hold on." Suddenly just as focused as the new guy, I jumped into the bed of the truck and quickly started tearing through the backpacks and duffle bags. Almost immediately I found a flashlight, and then moments after turning it on, I found the first aide kit. I almost screamed in very human-like frustration when I discovered that it was not a Soul first aide kit, but a human one, and consisted of gauze, Neosporin, Band-Aids, Ace bandages, some instant ice packs, and Tylenol. I grabbed the gauze first, and then moved the rest of the first aide kit to within reach of Nate's new nurse. I knew next to nothing about human first aide, so while I was very worried about Nate, I was satisfied that this man was clearly doing his best, and that was surely better than anything I could do.

I began to pull out thermal blankets, first covering as much of Nate as I could, then turning to the new member of our odd little family, really looking at him for the first time. He was a small man, but even through his winter clothing I could see that he was thickly muscled. It was impossible to tell his exact age, but around thirty or forty seemed right. His skin was a beautiful brown, as were his eyes, which had a worldly look about them that made me think there was little he had not seen or could not handle. His movements were quick and sure, and I had the feeling that he rarely second guessed himself. This was a man who knew how to take care of himself, I was sure of it.

"I'm Burns," I spoke for the first time.

"Rob," He said, without elaborating.

"The road is too rough to keep going." I explained inanely.

"Yeah."

"Is he going to be okay?"

"Don't know. Missed the femoral, but he lost a lot of blood before I got it stopped."

"I don't know what to do now." I admitted quietly, "We didn't exactly plan our escape route."

"I could tell." Rob barked a terse laugh, "Well, we're sitting ducks here. Don't have any way to defend ourselves and no way to escape. We gotta move. I'd go on foot, but he'd never make it, so our only choice is to head out the way we came in. Let's get him in the back seat. I've got it wrapped up good enough that I think it'll hold as long as he doesn't get jarred around too much. I'll drive."

I wordlessly handed him the keys after we got Nate settled. Seeing my best friend so deathly pale, moaning as we moved him, had made me realize that there were more ways than one that I could lose him. I had to worry about more than just the Seekers taking him. He was not a Soul who could just move from a dying host to a new host for the rest of eternity. He was a human. He only lived once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You might recognize Rob from the end of the book.


	15. Friction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Several things- First, sorry, it's a TINY chapter, Second, I'm getting super excited about Rob's character, the more I figure him out in my head, the more I like him. I hope you like him too :) Review!

I was surprised when, instead of trying to turn the truck around, Rob simply put it in reverse and started driving backwards. I had been having trouble navigating the rough road in drive, but Rob was having no difficulty as he took the road as quickly as he possibly without being too rough on Nate. We had been working our way down the road for about 5 minutes when I noticed the sound of a helicopter approaching from the East. I quickly unrolled my window and stuck my head out, trying to figure out just how far away it was and how much time we had. The chopper was traveling slowly, using a spotlight to search the woods for us. The Colorado woods were sparsely covered and would provide little shelter for us, so we were better off sticking to the road.

Even driving backwards, Rob was making better time than I had. We were both quite wary of our surroundings; neither of us were sure how far the tiny Seeker vehicles had made it as they pursued us. Ten minutes passed, and then twenty. I was getting antsy, and constantly glanced at Nate's taunt features, hoping that my rough driving earlier had not done irreparable damage. He occasionally cried out as we hit a particularly nasty rut, but for the most part stayed silent and still.

The spotlight from the helicopter flooded the truck with light just before we reached the fork in the road. Momentarily blinded, I did not see the two tiny Seeker cars, one on each side of the road, waiting for us at the intersection—but Rob did. With a move so quick I barely realized what was happening, he floored it, covering the last 30 yards in just a few seconds. He grunted for me to hold on, reached behind the seat to grab onto Nate, and smashed the first car so hard it wrapped around a tree. We both sat stunned for a few seconds, then Rob, who was the first to recover, slammed the truck, which had sustained only minor injuries to the very back of the bed, into drive and took off. He chose the right side of the fork this time rather than continuing on down the mountain, and wasted no time, pushing the truck to the limit around every turn.

It was several moments before we realized that we were no longer being followed.

Rob gave me a huge smile, "We lost 'em!"

I sighed, "More like they stopped to rescue the Souls from the hosts you just mutilated. They would never allow them to die if they could help it."

Rob's head snapped to the side, "Wait, what? Souls? Hosts? How much do you know about all this?"

 _Oops._ I took a deep breath, turned my head and looked him straight in the eye for the first time.

"Quite a bit."

Several things happened at once: the truck screeched to a stop, Nate crashed into the back of our seats with a groan and landed on the floor of the cab, and I found myself at the point of Rob's knife, his brown eyes suddenly cold and unforgiving.


	16. Desperation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Ok, so longer chapter now to make up for the shorter chapter earlier :) My initial thoughts in making Burns the way he is were that he is MUCH younger than Wanda (Earth is only his second life, his first was Fire World, and that was an abbreviated stay) and it falls back to nature vs nurture. He may have the personality of a Soul, but he's been influenced more by humans (Nate is his first and only real friend) and guilt (he's extremely sensitive, even for a Soul) than the Soul culture (which he hasn't really had a chance to be a part of much). Those are my thoughts, anyway. What are your thoughts?

"Start talking. Right now." Rob commanded softly, breathing in long, controlled heaves. His glare was deadly, and his knife was held expertly in his right hand, millimeters away from my neck, poised to cut. His movement had been so quick that I had not even seen him pull it out of his boot. His left arm was bent at the elbow, and his forearm pushed against my chest, forcing me to lean back against the passenger window of the cab. I was not resisting—I wanted to be as far away from that knife as possible. His whole body was leaning over me, and I knew that I had no way to escape.

I closed my eyes and took a shallow breath, afraid to breathe any deeper for fear that the knife would pierce my skin. My thoughts, which moments ago had made so much sense, were now jumbled as adrenaline coursed through my veins, urging me to find a way to escape this impossible situation. I knew that if I did not start talking, he would kill me, so I blurted out the first thing I thought, not even sure if I was making any earthly sense.

"I'm a Soul. But I'm not on their side. I'm Nate's friend. I don't want to murder humans," I was talking so fast that Rob was having a difficult time understanding me, but I continued to babble, "I didn't want to murder the Walking Flowers. I am called Burns Living Flowers because I did it before I found out I was hurting them. I tried to die on Fire World. They sent me here. And Sadie died. But I saved Nate. And Eric. And they live in my basement. And we're trying to save all the other humans. Like you."

My rambling, due to my emotional state and the speed at which I mumbled it, had made little to no sense, but Rob seemed to have caught the general idea, because he slowly pulled the knife away from my throat and released the pressure he was exerting on my chest. He settled back into the driver's seat, his knife still clenched in his right hand, and put the truck back into drive. I was not certain if he had decided to trust me or not, but for the time being, he apparently had decided to work with me to escape.

We continued on in tense silence. I stayed pressed sideways against the window, leaving as much space as possible between the dreadful knife and my body. I spared a quick glance at Nate, who was still lying on the floor. The bandages on his leg showed a bit of blood, so his leg was bleeding again, though not nearly as badly as before. Considering the amount of blood he had already lost, though, it was concerning. He seemed to be going in and out of consciousness, never staying awake for more than a few seconds, and I knew we needed to find somewhere for him to rest and get better care soon.

Just seconds after I processed this thought, Rob pulled around a sharp turn and we came into view of a spectacular mansion sitting atop a cliff. It was not an uncommon sight in these parts. The foothills of the Rockies were dotted with the get-away dream homes of the rich and famous. This one was off the beaten track a bit, but I was guessing the view at the top of the hill was worth the extra drive. The lights were all out, but the moon lit up the mountainside just enough for us to see the beautiful house. Rob and I glanced at each other and without a word, Rob turned onto the long, zigzag driveway. Any Souls we encountered in the home would be easier to deal with than Seekers, and the house was sure to provide us with much needed supplies.

Winding through the hairpin turns on the rough road took nearly a half hour, and Nate grunted and moaned throughout most of it. When we finally reached the top, Rob pulled up to the garage. He looked at me with a silent command in his eyes. Understanding, I got out and approached the front door. I rang the doorbell and waited anxiously, trying to think up a good lie that would explain my presence with two humans, one of whom needed immediate medical attention. I had absolutely no idea what to say. There was no answer, so I rang it a second time. After a third time with no sign of movement in the house, I tried the front door, which was locked. I returned to the truck and simply shook my head. Words between us just seemed unnecessary, and quite frankly, I was frightened of Rob and his big knife.

Barely indicating that he'd noticed my return, Rob searched around in the cup holders and glove box of the truck for a moment, selecting several small objects, before he hopped out of the truck and walked around to the side of the garage. Not ten seconds later, the garage door was opening, and Rob was able to pull the truck inside, which also housed a H3 and two dirt bikes. I stared at him in amazement and he shrugged.

"I've been picking locks since I was a kid. That was a piece of cake." He dropped a few pieces of bent wire that looked like former paperclips back into the cup holder, turned off the truck, and got out.

He left getting Nate out of the backseat to me, and while I carried him inside, Rob proceeded us, acting very much like a spy I had seen on an old human movie. He looked around every corner before entering a room, and walked completely silently grasping his knife in his right hand. His efforts were useless though, because Nate and I were making a ton of noise as we followed him, Nate groaning and me banging the walls and shuffling my feet. If anyone indeed lived here, they had already been alerted of our presence.

I made a beeline for the first couch I saw, which was in a magnificent living room, with floor to ceiling windows that gave an amazing view of the mountains. The house had an open floor plan so the kitchen, the living room, and what appeared to be a TV and game room were all one, but separated by the way the furniture was laid out.

Once Nate was comfortable on the couch, I immediately began searching the kitchen, the bathrooms, and the laundry room for a more useful first aide kit. I was hoping that a house this far away from a Healing Facility would have their own so that they could deal with injuries in case of an emergency. I physically sagged in relief when I finally found a Soul first aide kit, complete with  _No Pain_ ,  _Heal_ ,  _Cool, Sleep, Awake, Inside Clean_  and _Clean_ , and even  _Smooth_.

I grabbed the whole kit and returned to Nate. I was no Healer, but these things were, as Nate called them, "idiot-proof," so I was fairly certain I could handle this. I had had my fair share of minor injuries working with the tools on campus and had used most of these myself. At first, I had gone to the Healing Facilities, but after the third or fourth time they had patched up a simple cut, I had requested my own kit, similar to this one, and from then on I had taken care of my small injuries myself. Nothing had ever been as large as Nate's wound, but the concept was the same, I was sure of it. First, I put a little square of  _No Pain_  on his tongue, and almost immediately, his body relaxed. He stayed unconscious though, which worried me.

Next I selected the  _Inside Clean_ and sprayed some in his face. I unwrapped his leg, and sprayed some  _Clean_  on it, thankful that we had been able to eliminate the infection that surely would have come since we had wrapped his leg in such an unsterile environment. I grabbed the  _Heal_  and dribbled the liquid on the gash in his leg, and then smothered it in the glue that pulled it all back together. His leg was totally healed in a matter of minutes, with just a nasty looking scar, which was due to the sheer size of the cut. Just as I was reaching for the  _Smooth_ , Nate finally woke up, giving me a weak smile.

"Did I miss all the fun?"

"Well, I don't know how you would consider all that  _fun_ , but yeah, it seems we've escaped, if only temporarily. We're in some big house on the side of a mountain. I was just about to fix your scar," I pointed to the  _Smooth_ , "so hold still." Nate was familiar with all the basic Soul healing agents since I had them in my bathroom at home, but he had never had the opportunity to see them in action before. When his eyes fell upon the scar on his leg, which, when he had last seen it, had been spilling his life's blood, his eyes grew wide.

"Wicked! Don't fix it! I want to keep it! Scars are memories of battle! Proof I survived!"

"So you don't want the scar to disappear?"

"Heck no!"

I rolled my eyes. Humans. I returned the  _Smooth_  to the kit. I did not, however, return the kit to the bathroom, because I knew that whenever we left this house, we would need to take it with us.

The ever-energetic Nate, high on the  _No Pain_ , was just about to hop off the couch and explore the grandiose house when Rob returned to the room. He had clearly done a thorough exploration of the house and was coming back to check on us. He stopped short upon seeing Nate awake and his mouth formed a silent "o" when he saw his fully healed leg.

Nate gave him a huge smile, "The great thing about aliens is they've got freakish healing medicines, am I right?" He didn't wait for an answer, but attempted to hop off the couch, going full speed. He clearly had not accounted for all the blood he had lost though, and he had barely stood when he collapsed right back into the cushions. He grunted in frustration and glared at me, "I feel fine! Why am I seeing black when I stand up?"

"You feel fine because of the  _No Pain_. I don't have anything that will return all the blood you lost. We'd have to go to a healing center for that, which we obviously can't do. You'll just have to rest and wait for your body to heal itself."

"Fan-freaking-tastic." Nate muttered. Nate was usually an even-tempered man, but if there was one thing that got him upset quickly, it was being forced to sit still.

Rob had observed our interactions silently, and despite our circumstances, I could see his shoulders relaxing. Perhaps seeing the friendship I had with Nate, which was strong and obvious, was convincing him that I really was someone he could trust.

Rob looked like he wanted to talk to Nate alone, so I got up and began to explore the kitchen, hoping to find some food to help restore Nate's strength. The freezer had some chicken patties, and the pantry had canned peaches and green beans. Considering that it was 4 AM, the fare seemed odd, but I doubted either of the other two men cared. While I was banging around in the kitchen, Nate and Rob were having a heated conversation in the living room. I caught a few words that Nate spat out a little louder than others, words like "friend," and "trust," and "safe." I knew he was defending me, and I felt unworthy and grateful and hopeful. If only Rob would trust us, we could help him.

When the food was ready, I prepared three plates, found eating utensils, and carried them into the living room. After I handed everything out and sat down, Rob unexpectedly began to talk, slowly at first, but gathering momentum as he got into his story.

"We figured out something weird was going on pretty quick. I mean, all these homeless guys and street performers I knew were suddenly turning their lives around and wearing clean clothes and getting real jobs and stuff. I'm not the typa guy that just jumps inta something new like that, so I didn't go when they invited me. I thought it was religion at first, but Rachel," he paused, swallowing hard, "well, Rachel noticed their eyes." He straightened his shoulders, his eyes hardened, and then continued, "Maria don't trust nobody, so she insisted that the three of us stay under the radar and do our own thing, and then all of a sudden, it seemed like everybody had silver eyes, and they were talkin' funny and callin each other by different names like Snowball and Flower and Sways with the Wind and Sunshine and Fire-Taster, and that's when we knew we needed to get outta there. But they were watching us. So we holed up. But we ran outta food and Maria got sick. She's old. Like sixty or seventy, I'm not sure, and can't outrun these guys. So I tried to sneak us out to a better place. But they found us. I got Maria and Rachel hidden again-and I promised that I would be back for them. I was trying to make a run for it on my own when Nate showed up. Before he got there I didn't think I was going to make it, but I couldn't just leave Maria and Rachel on their own. I have to go back to get them. I promised." He finished with a determined look, and I knew that he would rescue the two women in question or die trying. He glanced at me, sizing up my reaction.

"Nate and I will go with you, of course, to rescue Maria and Rachel. We just have to wait until Nate is 100% first."

Rob and I both glanced at Nate, who was grinning like a kid on Christmas.

"Rescue mission! Covert style! I'm totally in!"

 


	17. Preparation

We decided to stay put for the time being. The mansion was perched right on the crest of the cliff in such a way that it had a 360˚ view. We would have ample warning of any visitors, though we were not sure what we would do about them if they came. Rob volunteered for the first watch. Nate was much too weak to do any defending of our new hideout, and Rob still did not trust me.

"There are several bedrooms, both upstairs and downstairs. Why don't the two of you take a few of the bedrooms downstairs on the south side." Rob instructed.

I was unsure of his reasoning, but obeyed anyway, and gave Nate a shoulder to lean on as we made our way downstairs. We shuffled along in silence as we both took in the utter beauty and lavishness of the mansion, clearly no expense had been spared. A thin layer of dust covered the surfaces of the tables and decorations in the basement, evidence that no one had been down here for some time. We found the two rooms Rob had been talking about, just underneath the garage, one decorated in blues and greens, the other in shades of orange and red. Both rooms were stunning and shared a bathroom. The sun was beginning to come up in the east, and a tiny bit of light was coming in the blue and green room through the window well, which faced east. The other room's window faced west, and was set up to glow in the sunset.

Nate headed straight for the sunset room, collapsed on the bed, and was dead to the world within seconds. I hesitated before walking into my own room, feeling apprehensive. Souls were social by nature, they needed other Souls to socialize with, and this house was so isolated that it was no wonder that no one was here, but I could not help feeling that Nate was not safe here. And now I had Rob to think about too. They were still being hunted. I lay down on the bed, completely dressed including my shoes, tense and waiting for Rob to sound the alarm. When I had been upstairs in the large, open room with a view, I had not been half this nervous, but down in the enclosed basement, things did not look so safe. I tried to sleep for only a few minutes before I gave up and ventured back upstairs, determined to help.

My footsteps in the hallway had Rob tense and clutching that all-too-familiar knife.

"Relax, okay? I just can't sleep down there. Can I help? Should we transfer all our things into the Hummer in the garage and use that as our new vehicle? The truck is almost out of gas anyway."

Rob lowered his knife and nodded, "That's not a bad plan. Maybe we can figure out a way to bring those dirt bikes along too, that'd be great. And let's see what else is around here that we can use."

While I grabbed the first aide kit that I had used earlier, Rob walked into the kitchen and emptied the entire knife drawer onto the counter. I shuddered and made a hasty retreat into the garage, looking around at the abundance of supplies that we had literally sitting at our fingertips. The people who had lived here before the Souls invaded had evidently been outdoorsy because there was a whole section of the garage dedicated to camping gear, neatly arranged on shelves. There were four-season tents, tarps, down-filled sleeping bags, a portable propane stove, tubs with insulating clothing, hats and gloves, snowshoes, a cargo sled, and even special food. Two kayaks hung on the rafters, and some fishing poles lined the walls. Skis and snowboards were held up in a rack on one end of the shelves, the other end had a cabinet that I had yet to explore.

After taking the sight of survival supplies in, I crossed over to where the black H3 sat and pulled on the door handle. Sure enough, it was unlocked. Even with three people riding in it, there would be plenty of space, particularly since there was a cargo rack. I started transferring the survival gear from the shelves to the car, grabbing our gear from the truck as well. I ignored the kayaks, fishing supplies, skis, and snowboards but basically grabbed the rest of it. Rob joined me when I was nearly finished, hauling a huge, heavy bag whose contents I did not ask about since I assumed they were knives, as well as several grocery bags of food. He looked approvingly upon the Hummer.

"Wish it got better gas mileage, but it'll get us where we need to go, that's for sure. Have you checked how much gas it's got?"

I shrugged, "I haven't even found the keys yet."

I let him deal with that problem while I went to explore the cabinet. I yanked the door open and leaped back with a yelp, my heart in my throat. Rob was at my side in an instant, his knife once again in his hand. I shied away from him, not wanting to be near that pointy object any more than I wanted to be near the projectile-launching objects in the cabinet.

Rob understood almost immediately and began chuckling, relaxing the hand holding the knife and covering his mouth as his eyes lit up.

"You thought they were real guns!" He said in between guffaws, "You scared me to death!"

I scowled in confusion, "Aren't they real guns?"

Rob laughed harder, "They're paintball guns. Worst they can do is give you a nice bruise." He pulled down a plastic container full of brightly colored balls, "See, these are the paintballs, it's like a game, you shoot them at each other and they explode and cover the other person with paint so you know that you hit your target. It's a ton of fun."

"Sounds awful." I said, as I backed away from the cabinet. I would never understand the human desire to be violent. They did this for fun!

Rob closed the cabinet and we finished loading the Hummer. Rob even got his wish to take the dirt bikes because they fit on the back on a nifty rack. The keys for the bikes and the hummer had been hanging just inside the door to the house and we discovered that the H3's gas tank was about two-thirds full—more than enough to get us off the mountain.

I was turning to walk inside when Rob stopped me.

"Is that your truck? Like is it registered in your name?"

"Yes," I paused as realization struck and panicked as my eyes flew to the license plates, "where are the plates?"

"Nate told me he pulled them off before you left. He must have forgotten to mention it. With any luck, we got up here without them putting two and two together, but we can't leave it here, they'll trace the VIN back to you and then figure out we have the H3."

"What do you suggest?"

"Scratch the VINs off and drive it away from here until the gas runs out?" Rob replied, sounding hopeful, "Then they can't trace it back to this house, the Hummer, or you. Maybe they'll think we continued on foot."

"Sounds good." I said, "Can you take care of it?"

Rob nodded and as he pulled out one of his knives, I left him, reentering the house. I walked over to the huge windows that looked out over the mountainside and gazed down at the huge wilderness below me. Dawn had arrived, and the winterscape was beautiful to behold. This earth, though I had never meant to become a part of it, was surely wondrous. As my eyes took in the scenery below me, they caught something that was not a part of the natural landscape. A car was making its way up the narrow, twisting driveway towards this house. We had been in the garage, not paying attention. They would be here in minutes.

"Rob! Nate!" I screamed, "Hide!"

 


	18. Retribution

Rob came running in from the garage, a knife still clenched in his hand. He skidded to a stop next to me, peering out the windows.

"Don't worry about us, I've got a plan" he told me, "And don't let them go into the garage."

With that, he disappeared down the stairs, and I was left alone to figure out what to tell the Seekers. The next ninety seconds passed in agony as I tried to think up a believable story and prepared myself to lie.

I watched as the car, a glossy black sedan, pulled around the final hairpin turn and onto the driveway, out of my line of sight. A loud, creaking, groan came from the direction of the garage, and I turned my head in surprise.  _The garage door was opening!_

I started toward the garage door, moving slowly, gathering my thoughts.  _How did the Seekers get the garage door opener?_  I opened the door to the garage just a crack, peeking out into the morning light. A man and a woman were getting out of the car, both with looks of confusion on their faces, focused on the wrecked back of the truck parked in the garage. The man was tall, solidly built and blonde. The woman was petite with chestnut hair reaching to her shoulders. They both walked around the front of the car and just as they reached each other, Rob came sprinting from the side of the house, and with a move so fluid and practiced I could tell he had done it many times before, he knocked the woman to the ground, simply by hitting the sides of her neck. The man turned to Rob, his hands out in front of him in a gesture of surrender.

"Please," he began, his eyes glowing silver as the sunlight rose up the mountainside, "We mean you no ha-"

But Rob attacked him too, in exactly the same way he had the woman, and the Soul, though he was much larger than Rob was, fell to the ground beside the woman.

I was more frightened of Rob than I had ever been before, but this time I was not frozen in fear. When I had agreed to save humans with Nate, I had never thought about how I would deal with the Souls we encountered. My body moved of its own accord and I found myself pushing the door open and sprinting across the garage.

"No!" The word was out of my mouth before I even realized it. I shoved myself between Rob and the Souls lying prone on the ground and glared defiantly up at him. I had no idea what I was going to do next. No idea how I wanted to handle this situation. I was in a moral grey area. Like me, these Souls had killed their hosts, but nothing could be done about that now. However, if we were to kill the Souls, I would be a murderer again and Rob would have new blood on his hands. If we set them free, we would be in danger again. Until I figured it out, I was not going to allow Rob to harm these Souls or their hosts. And I needed to talk to Nate. Immediately.

"Just…Wait." I pleaded, as I ran to the Hummer and grabbed the  _Sleep_. I sprayed some in each of the Souls faces and then picked the man up and threw him over my shoulder. "Get the woman." I instructed, and I made my way into the house. I hauled the man downstairs and deposited him in the bedroom opposite of Nate. Rob placed the woman next to the man and looked at me with distrusting, wary eyes. His shoulders were tense and he looked ready to pounce. I knew he could knock me out just as easily as he did the man and the woman. I needed to come up with a plan soon.

I walked into Nate's room with Rob on my heels. With the window facing west, the room was still quite dark and I could barely make out Nate's sleeping form on the bed. I shook his shoulder and he moaned as he came out of his deep sleep. He was clearly still weak and tired from the blood he lost, but was doing his best to pretend like it was not an issue.

"What's up?" He asked, as he wiped the sleep from his eyes.

"Two Souls just drove up. I think they're the owners of the house, though what they're doing here at six in the morning, I'm not sure. Rob knocked them out," the stilted tone of my voice betrayed how I felt about the violent act, "They're in the next room sleeping right now. They didn't see me so they don't know a Soul is on your side, but they know there are humans in their house and we have to figure out what to do. I can't condone killing. I just can't." I looked directly at Rob as I said this, having finally taken a stand. I could already tell he disagreed.

"This is a war." Rob declared, "Casualties happen. They've killed plenty of us."

"But as men of honor in a war, we should not be killing civilians, and if that is what these people are, can you really live with that?" Nate asked Rob, his face neutral and his tone kind.

"Are you saying that it's alright to kill Seekers, but not regular Souls?" I asked, relieved that it meant the two in our care would be saved, but horrified that Nate was fine with violence in what he just called a war.

"I can live with it." Rob declared, his face grim, "It's us against them. They've taken everyone from babies to the elderly, so I'm not against taking two healthy adults who had every opportunity to defend themselves."

I was miserable. I wanted to help Nate save the humans, but they wanted revenge on the Souls like me. I could even understand why, but I could not bear it if they killed Souls on my watch, particularly non-violent Souls like the ones in the next room. There seemed to be no solution that would make everyone happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I originally thought to go with the same thing SM did by sending the Souls into outer space, but then I thought about how different Burns and Wanda are and would he really think of the same solution as her? I doubt it. And this is set quite a bit earlier than the Host (6-8 years) so the war that the Seeker referenced in the beginning of the book is still raging. I'm assuming Nate and the gang were on the front lines and that, though they ended up with 22 people total, their numbers were stronger before they lost some to the war. Anyway, we'll see how they solve this dilemma.


	19. Concession

Nate slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position on the bed, his eyes serious and his tone final.

"I believe it is best to go with the middle ground here. We will not kill unless we are in direct and physical danger. These Souls would never hurt us except to call the Seekers, so all we have to do is make sure we are long gone before they find the Seekers or the Seekers find them."

Rob did not look especially pleased at this announcement, but he did not argue either. He shrugged his shoulders and exited the room, presumably to go back upstairs to watch for Seekers.

I looked at Nate in resignation, a weight of sadness filling my entire body; it seemed there was nothing I could do to evade violence.

"Isn't there anything we can do to avoid killing?"

"At this point, I think it's kill or be killed. Eat or be eaten. We don't have a choice. If the Seekers are about to capture one of us and the only way to get away is to kill them, then I'm willing to do that—to save the lives of the humans under my protection. Believe me, I don't like it either."

I nodded mutely. His logic seemed sound, but it still made me sick to my stomach. I wished with all my heart that there were a better way. In my Soul, though, I knew that I would never be able to kill, even if my own life depended on it.

"Don't ask me to kill them. I don't think I can." I plead softly.

He saw in my request what I did not speak out loud—acceptance that he might have to kill and a desperate attempt to keep from betraying my species so brutally. Though I had already betrayed them in a million other ways, this was just too much.

He put out his right hand and clasped mine and solemnly said, "Burns, you owe me nothing. You owe us nothing. For as long as you want to be here, you can be. I will protect you with my own life, because if it weren't for you, I'd be dead a few times over already. I will never force you to do something that goes against what you believe in."

Relief washed over me. Nate understood. I gave his hand a firm squeeze and a shake and left the room without a word. I checked in on our two captives who were both sleeping soundly in the bedroom next door before I went upstairs to join Rob. I was still a bit wary of him, but I was fairly certain that he would listen to Nate's decree, which meant that my life and the lives of the two peaceful sleepers downstairs were safe. I found him standing at the windows staring down the hill at the road below.

"We should get going as soon as possible," he said without turning to look at me.

"Everything is ready, right? Were you able to get the VINs scratched off the truck?"

"Yeah, that's taken care of. All we gotta do is figure out what we wanna do with the filthy aliens," he spat out. I flinched. That's what we were to him: an unwelcome invader that was ruining his world.

"I'm sorry," I whispered quietly. Even Rob could not ignore the pain and sincerity in my voice.

He turned around looked at me in surprise and distrust, "For what?"

"Everything. Anything." Honesty rang in every word, "It wasn't my choice to come here; they sent me without asking. I'm just trying to do the right thing." My hands, which had come up of their own accord to prove my point dropped to my side, and I suddenly felt weary and emotional.

Rob simply stared at me for a long moment, almost as if he was gauging my loyalty to the cause. What he saw must have passed inspection because he gave me a small nod and turned back to his lookout post without saying anything more about it.

I let the silence stretch for a few moments before I broke it, "what do you suggest we do about the two Souls downstairs?"

"Tie them up and leave them here. When we get to safety, we can call someone and let 'em know they're here. If it weren't winter, I'd say leave them tied up in the woods, but they'd freeze in no time flat."

I had had similar thoughts, though tying them up seemed cruel, I could not think of a better way, "I agree, and we best get to it, we don't have time to waste."

"There's a room downstairs that doesn't have any windows and we could figure out a way to immobilize the door, just in case they escape our knots. I think we should put them in there." Rob suggested.

Rob seemed to be a strategist, so I did not even suggest an alternative; I simply started for the stairs in order to move the Souls into the room. Rob went off to find some rope and met me downstairs where I was inspecting the room, which seemed to be purposed for sewing and crafts. I found two sturdy chairs and placed them back-to-back out of reach of any of the counters and shelves. Two of the shelves that held the crafting supplies were on rollers so I removed them from the room, thinking the fewer things we gave them to work with from the inside, the better. Rob arrived as I was doing this, and he grunted his approval. Together we searched the room for anything that might be used for an escape attempt, and removed some woodcutting tools, a lighter, all the scissors and knives, and a few hammers.

"Do you think they'll try to break through the drywall?" I asked when I saw him with the hammers.

Rob shrugged, "Better safe than sorry," he replied, as he removed everything else that was heavy enough to penetrate it, including the sewing machine. If they really wanted to, they could probably get through it with their own fist, but I doubted either of them would be able access the anger and violence required to punch a wall.

Rob placed the knives, lighter, and hammers in a bag that I was sure he would be adding to his already huge collection in the Hummer and set it just outside the door. Then he unwound a long length of rope and began to tie the two chairs together. His knots were professional looking and well practiced. I doubted that our extra precautions were necessary; no one was going to be able to get out of one of Rob's knots. Once the chairs were tied together, we strung the rope around some of the bigger furniture items in the room like the stationary shelves, a couch, and a small refrigerator, tying the rope back around the legs of the chairs each time so that the chairs could not be moved from where they were located.

Once this was all completed, we retrieved our prisoners and placed them in the chairs. Because they were asleep, it was difficult to get them to remain sitting upright while Rob tied his knots and used duct tape in some places. Even worse, because their bodies were so limp, it was very hard to make the ropes tight in the right spots. Rob was not trying to cut off their circulation, but he was trying to make everything secure, and from my perspective, it did not look very easy. It was particularly difficulty because the woman was so much shorter and smaller than the man, who was nearly as tall as I was. After some trial and error, Rob was satisfied, and with a final look around the room, we exited.

We had just shut the door when I realized that we had not left them anything to eat or drink, and we had no idea how long it was going to be before we reached safety.

"Hold on," I told Rob as I raced back upstairs. I filled two large glasses of water, found lids, and inserted straws. Then I grabbed six packages of Ramen. I knew they could not cook it, but I had spent a lot of time around college students and it had caused me to think of Ramen as its own food group; it could be eaten dry no problem. I set the Ramen on the counter that ran along the back wall, just in case the two escaped from being tied up and shoved the cups of water with the straws between each of their knees, that way they would not go thirsty. For extra measure, I even used some duct tape to make sure the water could not fall to the floor—the Wolfs had scared me when I had first come to Earth about how precious water was, there was no way I was leaving these two without it. As I was leaving, I thought to check the fridge and was pleased to find some mozzarella cheese sticks and some apple juice boxes. They would be fine.

Rob just shook his head, apparently amused that I was such a softy, but I was beginning to understand that he simply could not understand my point of view. We closed the door, which unfortunately opened inward and could not be stopped by a simple barricade, and stopped for a moment, stumped.

"Could we tie the rope around the doorknob and attach it to something?" I suggested.

"Maybe," Rob looked around the room, hoping to find something to tie a rope to. His eyes settled upon the two shelves I had wheeled out earlier, "Help me empty this and tip it on its side."

Rob started grabbing things from the shelf and within a few minutes we had emptied the whole shelf. We carefully tipped it on its side and placed it horizontally in front of the doorframe. Then Rob tied the leftover rope around the doorknob using a slipknot so the harder they pulled, the tighter it would get. Then he wrapped the rest of the rope around the shelf so that when they pulled on the door, they would be pulling the shelf too, which was blocking the door. It was nowhere near perfect and an engineer would probably laugh, but it looked like it would get the job done.

We had just finished it when we heard some moaning coming from inside the room. Rob and I exchanged glances—our prisoners were awake.

"Should we say anything?" I whispered to Rob, "Shouldn't we tell them not to worry; we'll send someone to save them as soon as we are away from here?"

"Why don't you get Nate and let him decide," Rob whispered back, "I'm going to go back upstairs and keep watch, we've left it for too long already." Rob grabbed his bag of tools and headed upstairs.

I was surprised that Rob had accepted Nate as the leader of our gang so quickly. He seemed like a very capable leader himself, yet he submitted to Nate without any problem. It was an admirable quality and even though his other, more violent tendencies frightened me, I respected him for this.

I went to get Nate who was sleeping again. I woke him up by shaking his shoulder and he slowly sat up, shaking his head to clear the sleep from his eyes.

"What's up?" He asked, and even though he acted like he was ready to take on the world, I knew he was still very weak.

"We've got the two Souls tied up and locked in a room. We're ready to go, but it sounds like they've woken up. Rob and I were thinking that we should tell them that we're going to send someone back to release them as soon as we're free so that they don't freak out. I also left them water within reach."

"Sounds good. You said we're ready to go? That's awesome; I'm ready to head home."

He swung his legs around off the bed and tried to jump up but failed. I was anticipating this and was ready to grab him before he fell. I supported him as he walked, which basically meant that I carried him while he pretended he was walking, out to the door where the Souls were being held. We could hear some whimpering coming from inside.

"Hello?" Nate called loudly. "Can you hear me?"

"Hello? Hello! Yes! Yes, I can hear you! There was a human! A wild human! He knocked us out and put us in here! Can you get us out of here?"

The voice belonged to the woman and was high pitched and panicked. Nate sighed before he replied, "I'm afraid not. You see, I'm a wild human. I promise we do not intend to harm you; all we want to do is keep you from calling the Seekers until we're safely out of harms way. When we get to safety we'll call the authorities ourselves and make sure they come and let you out."

There was a long pause and then the man's voice came through, his voice was much calmer and there was a gentleness to it. He almost sounded forgiving, "Why haven't you killed us already?"

Nate responded in a similar tone, very calm and smooth, "Because we see no reason to. You are no threat to us as long as you don't call the Seekers. We don't want to kill anyone unless we're forced to in order to save our own lives. All we want is the freedom to live as humans. We promise we will send someone to release you as soon as we are safely away. I give you my word."

"Then go so you can send someone back quickly." The woman jumped in. She did not seem nearly as accepting as the man.

Nate shrugged and replied, "Fine. Bye."

As we walked up the stairs he commented softly to me, "That was weird. If we had tied humans up I wouldn't have been able to get a word in between their cussing me out. At least these guys listened. Hard to believe they have it in them to murder an entire planet of its intelligent life forms."

We joined Rob upstairs who was pacing in front of the windows in the living room. He was clearly ready to leave. He immediately turned to us and spoke, "I don't understand this. If the Seekers had any sense, they'd be searching every house on this road for us. Why haven't they come to find us? The only thing I can think of is that they've got the road blockaded on both ends. Are there any other ways off the mountain?"

I shrugged, "I'm directionally challenged once I get up here. It all looks the same. Maybe we can find a computer."

Rob nodded, "the office is upstairs, I saw a few computers. The real question is if they get Internet this far up in the mountains."

Nate offered to stay downstairs as lookout, but really I knew it was just a front because he was exhausted from his short journey from the basement to the living room. He sank onto one edge of the sofa where he still had a pretty good view of the road below while I accompanied Rob upstairs. We were ecstatic to find both a working computer and a live Internet connection. It took some searching, the road we wanted did not even show up on Google, but we eventually found a dirt road on an off-roaders site that would hopefully get us to Estes Park. It was marked as 'unsafe' and in the snow, it would be doubly so, but with our new vehicle, we were hoping we could make it.

As we turned to leave, copies of the map in hand, Rob motioned to the computer, "Should we take this too?"

I laughed, "Oh no, Eric would be insulted. That thing is like an antique compared to what he's got. I think he'd even refuse to scrap it for parts."


	20. Comprehension

We decided that now that we had to send Seekers back to the house to release the two Souls, there was no point in removing my truck from the premises. It just wasted valuable time and they would find the truck anyway and figure out we had the Hummer once they talked to the Souls. Everything was inevitable. The only thing we were not certain of was whether or not the Seekers would be able to figure out who the truck belonged to with the VINs scratched off. I planned to get Eric on it as soon as we got home. If anyone could erase old DMV records, it was Eric. While he was at it, I needed to ask him to remove our fingerprints from the databases too.

So, Nate, Rob, and I left the Soul's car and my truck in the garage and piled into the Hummer. There was no discussion about who was driving. Nate slid into the back and promptly fell asleep, leaning against all the supplies. I climbed into the passenger seat and Rob moved behind the wheel, adjusting it to fit his shorter stature and popping on a pair of sunglasses. He looked as tired as I felt, and with a burst of inspiration, I rummaged around behind me for the Soul first aide kit, found the  _Awake_ , and held it out to him, "Want some?"

"What is it?" He asked suspiciously.

"It's called  _Awake._ It's like caffeine, but better. Works instantly, no crash, totally safe." I had never used  _Awake_  myself, but working on a college campus as I did, I had heard of the stuff. Even responsible Souls needed something to help them get through midterms and finals, though students had to go to a Healer to get permission to use it.

Rob pulled the spray can out of my hands and inspected it carefully; I got the feeling he was worried I had swapped it out for  _Sleep_  and was planning on abducting him. I sighed and eased it out of his hands. I had been hoping to catch a few winks myself so that I was fresh to take over for the drive home once we got to Estes Park, but clearly that was not going to happen. I sprayed the grapefruit smelling mist in front of my own face and inhaled. Immediately I felt alert and focused. I smiled at Rob and handed the canister back to him. Sure enough, monkey-see-monkey-do, Rob sprayed some in front of his own face, blinked and relaxed in relief, and we were able to begin to make our way down the long, twisting driveway.

The amount of gas in the tank only allowed for about 200 miles of driving—and that was on good roads, which these were not. Once we made it to Estes Park, we could refill, but that was assuming we made it there. It was hard to gauge which stage of our journey would be the most difficult. On the first third we were most likely to run into Seekers because we were still on the same roads as before and the second third was so treacherous we might not make it through at all. The last third would hopefully be the easiest as all we had to do was coast down the highway and back to my house, though if the Hummer were discovered and reported stolen during that time, we would be in areas of high visibility and in serious danger. Truthfully, I would not feel like Nate was safe until he was home, and maybe not even then. As soon as the guys were home and the stuff was unloaded, I needed to take the Hummer far, far away, dump it, and then find a way back without attracting attention. There were so many ways this plan could go wrong, and I had only thought of the predictable ones.

My thoughts had me occupied for the whole ride down the driveway, but when Rob turned out onto the road I shook myself out of my musings and began to pay attention. The main road, if you could call it that, was empty of other cars. We turned north and began to wind our way around the road, sometimes climbing steep hills before dropping down on the other side. This part of the road was new to us as we were continuing on in the way we would have if we had not stopped at the house. I glanced back at Nate whose jaw was slack as he snored softly in the back seat. How I wished I could be as worry free as he was. Rob's hands were clenched on the wheel, his knuckles white and his face grim. The road we were on was fairly well kept up, but with patches of snow and ice, it still was not the safest to drive. As we turned every corner, my heart clenched in my chest; I sure that there would be a roadblock or some other Seeker trap. The first two miles were clear. So was the third. By the fourth mile, the tension in the car was palpable. The turnoff we needed to reach was two more miles away, and I was certain that with each passing yard, we were getting closer to exposure.

As we came the crest of hill about a mile away from the turnoff, we saw a motorcycle parked at the base of the hill. It was clearly a Seeker as the Soul was armed and the bike had red and blue lights on the front of it. Rob and I looked at each other quickly, my gaze full of alarm and his full of determination.

"You know Nate's rules. This applies."

We started rolling down the hill toward the Seeker.

I shook my head, "No! No, we have to try to spare his life if we can. I can't be a part of killing. I can't." I whipped my head around, searching desperately for a solution. My eyes rested upon the Soul first aide kit that was sitting in the backseat. I dug through it and pulled out the  _Sleep_. I shoved it into Rob's hands, silently pleading with him to spare the Seeker's life.

He grasped the canister of  _Sleep_  and looked at it thoughtfully, "How long will this keep him unconscious?"

"As long as no one comes along with some  _Awake,_ two hours."

We were nearly to where the Seeker was. He was off his bike and waiting patiently for us to pull over.

"So we have two hours to dump the Hummer, because he'll be able to identify our vehicle after that."

I sighed. This definitely made things more complicated. "Yes."

"Fine. We'll do it your way. But you are taking responsibility for this."

Rob finally reached the spot where the Seeker was waiting. Just before he rolled down the windows he turned around and threw something over Nate's face and hissed at me, "Cover your face!"

Rob pulled off his sunglasses and shoved them roughly onto my face, then pulled up his shirt to cover his nose and mouth. I did the same with my shirt and then shrunk back into the corner of my seat to watch what happened.

The Seeker walked up to the window with a smile on his face that faltered as soon as he saw Rob's clear, human eyes. The Seeker did not have time to get 'Hello' out of his mouth—Rob was too fast for him. His hands reached for his gun, but Rob had already sprayed  _Sleep_  in his face. The Seeker hit the ground hard and Rob wasted no time readjusting his shirt and jumping out of the H3 to steal his radio equipment, gun, holster, and extra magazines and cartridges. He burst out laughing when he grabbed the gun, but did not bother explaining why. I was not sure I wanted to know. He pushed the motorcycle further back into the trees where passersby would not notice it and handcuffed the Seeker to it. All this was accomplished in less than 4 minutes and Rob sprayed an extra puff of  _Sleep_  into the Seeker's face for good measure before jumping back into the Hummer.

He handed me the radio to examine while he expertly checked the gun, sliding something on the top back to look inside. He chuckled again, and despite my fear of the gun, which literally had me crawling up the back of the seat in fear—no easy feat for a guy as tall as I am—I asked "What's so funny?"

"It wasn't even loaded." He held the gun sideways and showed me where the magazine should have been loaded. Sure enough, it was empty. I felt a wave of relief go through my body and I slid back down into my seat. I completely understood why the Seeker had not kept his gun loaded, even if Rob thought it was funny. My heart skipped a beat when Rob nonchalantly popped a magazine into the gun, pressed a button on the side of it with his thumb, and slipped it into the holster. He set it down between our seats and I stared at it in horror, moving over on my seat as far as possible to get away from the gun.

"Relax. It's de-cocked. It's about as safe as it can get while it's loaded, which I need it to be loaded if we run into trouble." Rob rolled his eyes at me and put the Hummer into drive. We continued down the road and I tried to get my breathing under control.

_It's just a gun. It's just a gun. It's just a gun and he won't hurt you and you don't have to touch it. Just don't look at it._

I tore my eyes away from the black, metal object and looked back at the road. My mind relived what had just happened and I realized that I could do a few things to better prepare us for the next time. When I had transferred everything to the Hummer from the truck, I had put some random things in the glove box that would help us in situations like these. I opened the glove box and found the disguise that I had used the night before, though it seemed like a lifetime before. The dark mask and glasses would effectively hide one of our identities from the Seekers. I showed it to Rob.

"That would have been useful to remember ten minutes ago." He muttered.

I shrugged, "Sorry."

Then I turned around and started to dig through one of the tubs that had the winter camping gear in it. Sure enough, there were four balaclavas designed to keep your face warm but would work just as well to keep them hidden. I pulled out two, setting one near Nate, who was still snoring, and putting one up front near Rob and me. We only had two pairs of sunglasses, but that is all we really needed.

Rob pulled the H3 around a curve and stiffened as we both saw a car approaching us. It was a normal car, just a simple station wagon—a family car. While Souls were not naturally suspicious, I had no idea whether or not Seekers had been warning all the travelers on this road to be careful and report suspicious activity, so I was nervous anyway. The Souls inside were clearly not Seekers, they had a small child and a baby carrier in the backseat, so all we had to do was pass by them without attracting attention and hope they did not notice the Seeker further up the road and report him.

Rob and I both held our breath as we passed. The Soul man behind the wheel of the station wagon gave us a friendly wave and I grimaced my best smile and waved back. The sigh of relief I let loose after they were safely behind us was huge and heartfelt.

Rob, who had released a similar gust of air suddenly looked at me with surprise, "You're really on our side?"

His eyes were filled with comprehension, and for some reason I knew that, whether or not he understood  _how_  I had come to be one of the natives, he knew that I was and he trusted me. "Yes."

He did not say anything in return, he just gave a single nod and turned his attention back to the road.

I had helped rescue him from the grasp of the Seekers, watched while he probably murdered a few of them when he rammed the truck into their cars, helped him tie up two innocent Souls, and promised to rescue his friends, one of whom I suspected he was in love with, and the thing that convinced him that I was on his side was my fear of being discovered by a defenseless family in a Subaru? Alrighty, then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: As a special 20th chapter treat, if you want a bit of a spoiler (we all know that the gang can't stay in Burns' house forever, eventually they have to move on) I have the Google Maps link to the actual location (with Google Earth you can actually see it) where they will be moving (eventually). I'm not going to tell you when or how, and the place isn't even labeled on Google, so you'll have to figure that out yourself, but if you want it, say so in your review and I'll PM you. If you figure out what it is, let me know, but don't tell anybody else :D) I'll make the link available to everyone once we get to that part of the story so you can visualize where they are. Don't forget to review, especially if you never have before!


	21. Attention

We were quickly approaching the road where we would turn west to continue our journey toward Estes Park. Though we could continue on the road we were on and get there much more quickly, we had all agreed that it would be safer, despite the hazardous road, to avoid Seekers if at all possible. We could not continue to escape them if we remained so clearly in view and the side road was so obscure that we had a much better chance of getting through unseen.

The radio Rob had tossed in my lap was a fairly basic looking, fitting in the palm of my hand. We had several of them that we used on the grounds crew at CU, so I had a good idea of how to work this one. I turned the knob at the top and began to flip through the channels. Static, static, and more static. I turned it off, wanting to save the battery and knowing we were too far up in the mountains for a good signal to come through unless we were close enough to another radio to see the person carrying it.

Instead of wasting more time with the radio, I pulled out the map and began to look ahead for the turnoff. I was not the best at reading maps, but I was fairly certain we were approaching the left-hand turn soon.

After two very harsh winding corners, I pushed the map toward Rob, "Do you think we've missed the turnoff? I think we're here," I pointed, "and the map puts the road that we wanted to turn off onto back here." I motioned to another spot, further back on the road we had just driven.

Rob glanced quickly at the map and then pulled over to the side of the road. He grabbed the map from my hands and examined it more carefully. "You're right. We missed it. Better turn around."

He eased the large vehicle into a U and we retraced our route, this time keeping our eyes peeled for the road that we had missed the first time. Rob was the one that spotted it. On the right hand side of the road, just where it was supposed to be, the turn off appeared. The fencing that lined the road was unbroken, but beyond it was a path, it could hardly be called a road, that disappeared into the trees. There were no tracks to mar the snow and large rocks jutted out occasionally to break the soft winter wonderland. Rob pulled the Hummer off to the side of the road and gave me an exasperated look.

"We're going to have to break apart the fence, drive up a ways, and then come back and clear our tracks. It's not going to be easy."

I nodded. It would certainly take time, but we had all decided this was the best course of action, there was no going back on it now. I opened my door and hopped out. The fence was barbed wire and while I approached it, Rob rummaged around in the car for some of his tools. I got to the metal post that the wires and examined it and was surprised by what I saw. There were two posts side by side made to look as one. Tentatively, I reached out and grabbed one of them. It was a bit loose—not enough to fall over, certainly, but enough that I could move it with my hand. I got a firmer grip and pulled, and even with the frozen ground, the post came out. Rolling the wire around the post as I went, I walked over to the other side of the road and left it there. Our way was clear. Clearly, someone had done this before and had left it like this on purpose.

Rob had finally found all his wire-cutting tools and had joined me and I took great satisfaction in giving him a smug smile. He had no expression on his face as he turned around to return his tools to the Hummer. I joined him and we drove the H3 up the rough road about 100 feet until the tracks would not be visible. The rough ride woke Nate up and he blinked at me sleepily while I quickly filled him in before jumping out with Rob to cover up our tracks.

First we closed off the fencing again and then, using pine boughs, we primitively covered what we could of our tracks. We were counting on snow blindness and Soul obliviousness to get us through this. Hopefully they would not notice our trail for a few more hours.

Rob and I had completed our tasks in silence, both lost in thought. When we approached the Hummer, I could hear music pouring out of it and I was heartened to know that Nate was feeling a bit better.

Rob got to the Hummer first and when he opened the door, I could hear Nate singing along to the radio at the top of his lungs,

"Oh, oh, oh, I wanna be free-yeah, to feel the way I feel. Man! I feel like a woman!"

When I opened my door, I found Rob staring awkwardly at Nate, who was sitting in the backseat using one of the bottles of  _Sleep_  from the first aide kit as a microphone. I smiled to myself; it was good to have the old Nate back. I climbed in and looked at Rob meaningfully. I wanted to get out of here, we had wasted enough time already. Rob put the Hummer in drive and we continued on our way while Nate sang over our shoulders,

"I get totally crazy. Can you feel it! Come, come, come on baby! I feel like a woman!"

* * *

We got bumped and slammed and jarred for a good hour as we made our way along the road that Google had no record of. Rob's face was stony and his knuckles white as he did his best to keep us on the road. Nate was still singing along to the girly country mix that was in the CD player, and I was getting more anxious by the minute. We were nowhere near safe and so many people were counting on me. I was so caught up in my own little world that Rob had to hit my arm twice to get my attention.

"Look. We might have trouble. But maybe not."

Up ahead was a tiny cabin, and there was smoke coming out of the chimney.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Ok, so I've been planning on having Nate break out into song for a while, and while I was looking up lyrics (just to make sure I had them right-they're Shania Twain's "Man, I Feel Like a Woman!" btw) I ran across an old Chevy Colorado commercial that I thought was hilarious and ended up being very similar to what I had already written (I wonder if I've seen it before? I don't remember, but this can't have happened by chance...). It has TJ Thyne from Bones in it. If you want to watch it, just Google "Man I feel like a woman Chevy Colorado"-it's the first video that comes up in the results.


	22. Adoration

The chilly air around us was silent and still—there was no way that the residents of the cabin, human or otherwise, could have missed our approach in the H3. Rob stopped the vehicle just in front of the door, grabbed the pistol from between the seats, and opened his door.

"Stay here."

He had one foot on the ground when Nate stopped him, "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm going to check things out."

"What if there are Souls inside?"

"If they try to hurt me or call the Seekers, I'll shoot them." He held up his gun as if Nate had asked a stupid question, "But I think that these people are human."

Nate glanced at me and I shrugged. If Rob wanted to charge in there with a gun, I was certainly not joining him, but I had to agree with him about one thing, this did seem like it was somewhere a human, not a Soul, would live.

Nate turned back to Rob and nodded, "Okay, but be careful and don't kill anyone that you don't have to." After a moment of consideration he added, "And be careful how you tell them about Burns."

Rob nodded and climbed fully out of the Hummer, walking around the front of it. The cabin was small, probably only one room, with a window and a door on the front side. Rob followed a snow packed path to the front door and knocked, keeping his right hand on the gun inside his jacket at all times.

All three of us held our breath as we waited ten, then twenty seconds for something to happen.

Finally, the door creaked open a few inches and the double-barrel of a shotgun inched its way out. Rob stepped to the side quickly so that he was out of the way of the gun. As I muttered "definitely human," under my breath while keeping my eyes on Rob to make sure he stayed safe, Nate grabbed the latch of his door and pushed it open, tumbling onto the ground in a big heap.

Though Nate was very weak, he was running on adrenaline at the moment, so he managed to get up on his own and was working his way toward the cabin door yelling "We're human!" at the top of his lungs before I could disentangle myself from my seatbelt, open my door, get out, and join him to try to help.

He shoved me away whispering "No Burns, he'll shoot you when he sees you, get back in the car, I got this!"

Fortunately, I was still stronger than he was, so I hauled him over my shoulder and stood up to balance his weight. I caught Rob's eye for a split-second, just long enough to understand that all three of us would be safer if Nate and I stayed in the car, and carried him back the four steps to our still-open doors and shoved Nate back into his seat. I had just closed his door when a shot rang out and my human body's instincts had me on the ground and under the Hummer before I could even think.

I peeked out from under the chassis to see that Rob was uninjured and on the move and he was doing his James Bond impersonation again. With the pistol out and presumably cocked and loaded, he stopped moving after he made it around the corner of the house, hiding and peering around the side to see if it was safe to come out.

Over my pounding heart I heard some rustling above me as Nate moved some bags and boxes around in the Hummer. After a few moments the door that faced away from the cabin opened and he dropped down onto the ground beside me, scooting underneath the Hummer, alarm on his face.

"Are you okay, Burns? Are you shot?"

"I'm fine. I have no idea who they were aiming at, but they missed me and Rob."

Nate shivered and for the first time I realized that we were both lying in the snow and mud. Nate in particular should not be exposing himself to such harsh conditions and I whispered to him, "Get back in the car before you freeze to death!"

"No! I'm fine and we need to figure out how to save that human!"

He wiggled and scooted until he was on my other side and then he eased himself out from under the safety of the Hummer.

"Nate!  _Nate!_ " I hissed, not exactly shocked at his behavior, but slightly surprised that he was trying the same stunt for the second time in a row. He ignored me and pulled himself shakily to his feet, keeping one hand behind his back like a stop sign, telling me to stay put.

"Don't shoot!" He hollered, "I'm a human just like you and I'm running away from them too. You can either help us, join us, or just let us go, but don't get in our way. We're on the same side." His speech took everything he had out of him, and he collapsed. In an instant I was out from under the Hummer and at his side, checking to make sure he was still breathing. He was, and he regained consciousness after only a few seconds, but he was clearly exhausted.

The door, which had closed sometime after I had rolled under the Hummer, eased open again and this time, along with the double-barreled shot gun, a German Shepherd stuck his head out. He trotted purposefully toward Nate and me and gave us both a few good sniffs. Whatever he smelled he did not like because a growl began to form low inside his chest. While this inspection was going on, the owner of the gun stepped out of the doorway and revealed herself, her gun centered squarely on my chest.

I froze. I was looking straight at her but I had no idea if she could see my eyes or if she even knew what that meant.

She looked young, probably in her late teens, and was petite with un-kept honey brown hair pulled into a messy braid that hung over one shoulder and halfway down to her waist. Her skin was a wintered tan but her nose and cheeks were rosy from a recent sunburn. Her green eyes flashed in defiance and her expression left me with no doubt that she would fight for her life if she had to. She wore tattered jeans and a long-sleeved plaid shirt that was at least 3 sizes too big for her. Her boots were worn and made for hard work, and her small hands barely fit around the gun she held so tightly.

"Cole doesn't believe you." She spoke smoothly and clearly and I was honestly surprised. I had expected some form of Redneck drawl.

"Who's Cole?" Rob asked from his hideout around the corner of the house. His voice was curious and held just the right amount of sincerity.

"My dog. He knows who is human and who is… not." She stumbled at the end and I was left wondering just how much she knew. Clearly the dog was not 100% right all the time, because Nate  _was_  human and he was still growling like he was about to attack us.

"Then send him over here." Rob encouraged, keeping his voice calm and even, "I'm human, if your dog can tell, then he'll have no problem with me."

As tiny as she was, she could not hold the shotgun up with only one hand, so she gave me a firm warning glare and then lowered the gun for just long enough to point toward where Rob was hiding, commanding, "Cole, go!"

The gun was centered back on me in less than a second and Cole obediently made his way over to Rob.

About three feet away from Rob, Cole barked excitedly once and leaped the remaining distance to land with his front paws firmly planted on Robs chest, doing his best to lick his face, jumping up and down on his hind feet in order to reach.

From my perspective, I could see that Rob was not happy about the slobber or the muddy paws, but he managed to keep his voice normal as he called to the girl,

"See, Cole definitely likes me."

After a moment's indecision, she lowered her gun and began to walk slowly toward Rob, glancing back at me and Nate, who was barely conscious, every other step. Rob slowly and carefully put his own gun down on the ground, kicked it into view, and stepped out from around the corner with one hand up and the other petting Cole.

He smiled at her and said, "I'm Rob, what's your name?"

"I'm Jess." She beckoned to Cole with one hand and came to her immediately. He sat obediently at her left side and she gripped his fur for support. "You're human?" She checked again. Apparently even though her dog had enthusiastically accepted Rob, she was not willing to do the same.

"Yes I am. We're on the run from the aliens, left two of them tied up about 40 miles that way," he pointed to the southeast, "and also handcuffed a Seeker to his motorcycle in the woods about 20 miles back. I got that," he pointed at the gun lying on the ground, "from him. You're welcome to join us, we're going back to Burns' house, it's safe."

She glanced at Cole for a moment and Rob rushed to add, "Cole is too, of course." I rolled my eyes. Dogs could be intelligent, but they were not intelligent beings, not in the way that Souls measured. He would only get in the way. From the ground, I could hear Nate agreeing with Rob, and from the tone of his voice I already knew he was delighted about the dog. Wonderful. Now I had to figure out how to hide a dog too.

"Nowhere is safe." She said softly, and there was so much sadness and emotion behind those three words that my heart ached for her.

"This place is." Nate chirped up, "Burns is special, he's kinda like a double agent. They think he's one of them, but really he's one of us. They don't know that he's got all of us hidden downstairs."

Her eyes flew to me suspiciously and her hands tightened on her gun, "I thought you said you were human?" She accused, taking a step back, her voice choking with fear.

"I am," Nate said, "And Burns might as well be, he's already saved my life more times than I care to remember, and he saved Rob and Eric too, and we're going back for Maria and Rachel. Burns won't betray you. He's on our side. He helped tie up the aliens."

"How do I know you're telling the truth? How do I know that you haven't figured out a way to fool me and tomorrow this time I'll be one of them?"

"Do you know about their eyes, Jess?" Rob asked kindly.

"Their eyes?"

"Yes. Once an alien has taken over a human's body, their eyes change. They get a little silver circle in the iris that glows when light is shined onto it. Nate and I have normal eyes. So do you. Burns' eyes have the silver. You can believe what Nate and I tell you because we're human, but we understand if you don't want to trust Burns yet. However, you can take our word that Burns really is on our side. We wouldn't be alive without him."

I was touched that Rob was standing up for me and hoped that the young woman believed us. She was much too tiny and vulnerable to be left up here alone, even if she did have Cole to help her, and I felt a strangely strong desire to make sure that she was safe and cared for.

"Show me." She commanded softly, but with an edge of steel to her voice.

I helped Nate up and slowly we made our way over to where Rob and Jess were standing. Nate was very weak and was shivering, but part of that was, I was certain, from the excitement of getting to be near the dog. He was grinning from ear to ear.

"Can I pet him?" He asked as soon as we were within reach.

Jess, whose intense green eyes were focused on mine, shrugged and Nate eagerly leaned forward toward Cole's head.

"Hi Cole, I'm Nate. You're a very pretty dog, yes you are! Why don't you let me pet you, huh? Wanna give me kisses? Oh, you're just the cutest thing I ever did see!" Nate was talking in a baby voice so I tuned him out and turned my attention to Jess.

Wanting to be helpful, I opened my eyes wide and began to talk, "In our natural forms, we are a silver creature only a few inches long with just over a thousand tiny little attachments, sort of like arms. With those attachments we access all the parts of the brain that we need to function, including the eyes, which is why there is the silver ring. We're inserted at the base of the neck," I turned around and pointed to my barely visible scar. "It was not my choice to come to this planet, I was rescued from a suicide attempt and sent here without my permission. Now I'm doing everything I can to help the humans stay alive. I'll help you too, if you'll let me."

Rob stepped in at this point, "As you'll notice, Nate and I do not have the silver ring and are fully human." He turned around to show Jess his scar-free neck and then cleared his throat, glancing at Nate.

Nate's whole attention was focused on Cole, who was growling at him. His hand inched toward his head very slowly as he murmured encouraging words of love and affection in a high pitched, girly voice, but Cole would have none of it.

"Nate, look up." Rob commanded, and Cole, distracted, moved happily over to Rob's side and rubbed against him, begging to be petted.

"No fair! Why doesn't he like me?" Nate pouted as he met Jess's eyes for the first time.

She shrugged, "You must smell like aliens."

I laughed out loud. Nate did spend a lot of time around me so it made sense—Nate did not seem very happy about it though.

* * *


	23. Situation

Nate, Rob, Jess, and I were still standing outside in the slush, mud, and snow, so Rob, with a glance at our Hummer, which still had two doors open and was therefore as cold inside as outside, suggested hesitantly,

"Do you think we could maybe move this party inside? Nate needs to rest and warm up."

I gave Rob a grateful glance. He was definitely already on the best terms with Jess and Nate really did need to warm up and change clothes. He was shaking from head to toe.

Jess froze for an instant, her eyes going slightly vacant as if she was deep in thought, and then she hefted her shotgun into her arms and gave me a look that was so full of pain, fear, and confusion that I actually felt my heart squeeze inside my chest. She was clearly torn about letting me into her home, and I did not want to invade her privacy in any way.

"I'll just get Nate and me some new clothes and then I'll get the car warmed up again so that when we're ready to go, we don't have to wait." I said, turning immediately and working my way toward the Hummer. After only three steps, though, I glanced over my shoulder and caught a glimpse of Jess's golden-haired head as she ducked into her tiny cabin, stumbling slightly over the doorframe as she entered. I already felt oddly bereft, all alone out in the cold while Nate and Rob got to learn more about Jess in the snug little house.

I closed my front door and walked around to the other side where Nate had climbed out the second time. The supplies that we had brought from the mansion on the mountainside were quite snugly packed away, but I could see the tub that had the clothing in it and began to work my way toward it. After only a few minutes, I had the tub open and was sifting through it, trying to find things that looked like they would fit both Nate and me. Fortunately, the man who had lived at the house had been tall like me, but Nate, who was quite a bit shorter than I was, was going to have to deal with long pants and sleeves.

I pulled out a set of men's Icebreakers that would work well underneath some hiking pants and a windbreaker for me, though the outfit was more for spring or fall than winter, I would be fine, and found some Under Armour that would fit nicely under some snow pants and a vest with a heavy coat for Nate. I replaced the tub and closed up the Hummer, making my way to the now closed front door of the cabin carrying Nate's clothes.

At the door, I hesitated, leaning my ear close, hoping to catch a few words of Jess's story, knowing she would stop sharing once I interrupted. Her words were soft, but the world around us was so silent that I was able to make them out.

"And he just grabbed my sweatshirt and pulled me out of the house and I had no idea what was going on. He was barking at my parents like he was going to attack them and I've never seen him act like that, and then I realized that everything she said and what I heard was true, and I can't believe I did it, I can't believe I left them to fight off the aliens alone, but I just took my dad's truck and Cole and we escaped."

A faint rumbling, turning into a full-blown growl, came from the other side of the door and I quickly stepped away so my eavesdropping would not be noticed. I reached my hand up to knock just as Rob opened the door with Cole glaring at me between his legs. Rob gave me a knowing look and I managed a sheepish smile in return. I handed him Nate's clothes and then turned to walk back to the Hummer. I hesitated turning on the heat because I did not want to waste any gas, so instead I pulled off my cold, wet things and quickly changed outside in the snow before climbing in the Hummer and rummaging around for one of the sleeping bags. Zipping myself inside and reclining in the passenger seat, I willed myself warm as I pondered our newest human acquaintance.

Her hair, though unkempt, was long and lustrous and would be beautiful if she had had access to a proper shower and hairbrush. Her face was smooth and nicely shaped, not too round or angular, but the perfect mixture of both with rosy cheeks and shiny green eyes. She was not a classic beauty by any stretch of the imagination, but rather what one might call cute. I thought she might even be adorable. She had small hands, and though her feet were covered by ugly boots, they appeared to be just as petite. She was over a foot shorter than I was, but her entire countenance shouted that she was a fighter. She had been living up here in the winter all alone and she had survived. I liked her, she was tough.

She did seem quite attached to that dog though. He was going to be a problem. Dogs carried fleas and they smelled. They drooled and they ate extra food that I did not want to have to supply. They needed to go to the vet and get shots and regular check-ups. They shed everywhere and they urinated in the house. No, I definitely was not excited about getting a dog. I knew, though, that Jess would not come unless Cole came, so I was going to have to learn how to live with the dog.

My thoughts were centered on the peaceful world of Jess and the uninvited new family member of the dog, and I was snug and warm inside the sleeping bag and finally motionless for the first time in over 24 hours. As I sat there in the front seat of the Hummer, I slowly and unintentionally drifted off to sleep.

I awoke with a start when Nate opened my door, blasting me with cold air and good news,

"Jess has decided that she is going to come with us! She has a truck parked around back and she is just packing a few things now. She doesn't have much so it won't take her long. I'm going to ride with her and Cole."

"That's great! How long have I been asleep?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe an hour? A little longer? Not too long, we didn't want to waste too much time and the Seekers could already be on our trail so we really should get going as soon as possible."

"Yeah, definitely. You said she's packing now?"

"Yep, so if I were you, I'd get this thing started so it's warm when Rob gets out here."

Nate turned and walked back to the cabin, entering with a knock and a yelled "I'm back!"

I reached for the keys that were still in the ignition from earlier and turned them to get the Hummer started. After a few minutes, I switched the heat on to full blast and was quickly forced to shed my sleeping bag cocoon. That completed, I leaned back into the seat and drifted off into never-never land once again, my exhaustion overwhelming the rest of my body.

The next time I awoke, we were moving. A quick glance in the rearview mirror told me that Jess, Nate, and Cole were in a classic green Ford behind us that was having far more difficulty on the harsh roads than the H3 was. The road was rutted and muddy, with patches of snow and ice spotting it in places where the sun did not shine. Ponderosa Pines sparsely lined the sides of the narrow road and large boulders jutted up between them. The sun was shining between the trees, and Rob had his sunglasses on, not to pass himself off as an alien, but to prevent snow blindness.

Rob, seeing that I was awake, simply said, "Jess says it's about 15 minutes more to Estes Park. Do you think you'll be up to drive once we get there?"

"Yeah. I can drive. We're going to need to fill up with gas." We both looked at the gas gauge, which surprisingly still had about a quarter of a tank left, but would not be anywhere near enough to get us all the way back to Boulder.

"Yeah, better check and see if Jess needs some too."

Just before we got to town, we stopped so that Jess, Nate, and Rob could stay with the truck while I went into town with the Hummer to fill it up with gas. I felt leery of leaving them alone, but I knew that Rob was capable of protecting them, and Nate thought well on his feet. I just worried for Jess; she seemed so vulnerable.

I had to take a few turns to get into the main part of town and then I pulled into the first gas station that I saw. I immediately got out to fill up my tank, forgetting for the moment that I was dressed rather oddly for November. The gas station attendant, though this was a you-pump, wandered out to talk to me, and I mentally prepared myself to lie, plastering a plastic smile on my face.

"Good afternoon!" The man exclaimed, as if it was the best morning in the history of the world, "How are you today?"

"I'm doing well, thank you, how are you doing?"

"I'm great! Loving this cool, crisp weather! Did you just visit the Park?"

He meant, of course, Rocky Mountain National Park, which was just a few miles up the road, and it was the perfect excuse for the way I was dressed and all the camping gear in my car, so I said, "Yes, just got back from a trip! It was beautiful! This planet sure has stunning scenery!" and mentally thanked him for giving me such a perfect story—I should have thought of it myself but I was still new to the whole lying shenanigan.

"Oh yes, I love it here! Of course, I had only ever been a Bat before, so this was quite a change!"

"Oh, I can see how that would be a big change!" I replied sympathetically, casually glancing at the gas meter and wishing that the numbers were climbing higher, faster. "I was a Flower, before, so I enjoy the springtime here quite a bit," and then, because at this point decorum called for it, I said, "I'm Aureolin."

"It's nice to meet you, Aureolin, I'm Word Weaver. What brought you up into the mountains?"

I was rescued from answering immediately by the click of the gas pump, and I maneuvered it back into its resting place before I responded, "Oh, just needed to get out for the weekend and get some fresh air. My comforter suggested it. It was nice to meet you Word Weaver, goodbye!"

"I hope that you had a good time, it was nice to meet you too! Have a safe trip home!"

I jumped back into the drivers seat and returned down the street from which I had come, checking my mirrors far more frequently than necessary to make sure that no one was following me as I made turn after turn, eventually getting to the unmarked road that I had driven into town on.

I got to the area where Nate, Jess, and Rob were supposed to be waiting only to find mushy snow and quickly melting tire tracks. I was no tracker, but it appeared that they had returned the way we had come, and my heart sank. Jess had no reason to believe my loyalty; I could not expect her to wait for me. She had probably decided to return to her cabin. I had thought that Rob and I had come to an understanding earlier in the day, but perhaps I was wrong. He must have gone with her; she did have a pretty good set up. Nate, though, was my very best friend in the whole world. I had never doubted his friendship, and now he was gone.

Or maybe he was just in trouble? I was such a pessimist that my first thought was betrayal, but the much likelier option at this point was that they had been found! I hopped out of the car and looked around. I had no idea what I was looking for, but I quickly scanned the snow and slush for something that would give me a clue as to where to look. Finding nothing with my untrained eye, I jumped back into the Hummer and started retracing our tracks, hoping against hope that they were, in fact, alright and had just betrayed me and returned to Jess's cabin.

I had only driven a mile when I found them, and nothing could have prepared me for the sight that greeted me. The three of them were standing in a straight line, spread just a few feet apart from each other.

Jess was pointing her shotgun at Nate's chest.

Nate had the pistol and was pointing it at Jess's head.

Rob was crouching between the two of them, with a hand on both of their lower chests and his eyes centered on my approach.

Even from 100 feet away I could read the desperation in his eyes; he was clearly and silently screaming,  _help me!_


	24. Frustration

Even though I wanted to speed up, screech to a stop right in front of where they were standing, throw open my door, and scream:  _What is going on!_ I slowly and carefully drove the Hummer toward them until I was about twenty feet away, keeping my eyes on Jess's gun the whole time, and put the H3 in park. I could feel Rob's eyes boring into my body, but I did not make any eye contact with him; my sole focus was Nate and his safety.

I slowly and carefully got out of the Hummer, keeping my hands in full view so that Jess did not think that I was coming to attack her in any way. Once I was fully out of the car, I put my hands in the air and walked a few paces away from the car. Cole appeared from inside the cab of Jess's truck, which was parked just beyond the three, and he growled upon my approach. My heart throbbed in my chest and my mind raced with ideas on how to get out of this situation with everyone's body parts fully attached. Hostage negotiation was not something I had ever anticipated needing training in. Given my current extra-curriculars though, studying up on the subject was probably a good plan.

"Rob," I addressed him in my calmest voice, my eyes still on Jess's gun, "start at the beginning and tell me what happened. Jess and Nate, please refrain from shooting each other until we have the full story."

Rob took a deep breath and began, "You weren't gone thirty seconds before Jess suggested that we move further back on the road so that we weren't spotted. Neither of us thought it was necessary, but we went along with it because it seemed like it was a big deal to her and we figured you'd find us either way. We were just sitting here waiting for you and then when we heard you coming up the road, Jess told Cole to stay, jumped out, and grabbed her shotgun. To be honest, I thought she saw a deer or something. Nate and I jumped out right after her and we heard her saying somethin about payback for her folks. Nate heard that and he grabbed my gun from the holster on my waist and next thing you know, they're both aiming at each other and I'm on the ground."

I sighed. Would there ever be an end to the idiotic things that Nate did? The man just had no fear for his own life and too much compassion for others. He was almost like a Soul in that way.

"Nate, lower your weapon, and Jess, either lower yours or point it at me. You two are on the same side, you should not be fighting each other." I commanded softly.

Nate slowly obeyed, lowering the pistol, decocking it, and handing it to Rob who took it with a nod of approval and sigh of relief. Nate remained standing though, and steadfastly stood between me and the double barrel of Jess's shotgun, "I won't let her shoot you, Burns, you are my best friend and she just hasn't figured out how much you can help her. She'd regret it later."

"Those aliens took my parents and my brothers and my best friend. Burns is one of them." Jess retorted softly, and the pain in her voice broke my heart.

"I'm so sorry. I really am. Please just put down the gun." I pleaded, hands still up in surrender.

Jess did not lower the gun, but rather stepped to the side so that she had a clear shot of me, "Apologies do not return family members or friends. What can you do about that?"

I sighed and racked my brain for an answer that would satisfy her, "I can't do anything but save every other human left so that it doesn't happen to them too."

"How do I know that you're telling the truth and that you're not going to hand me over to them?" She asked, her voice tight and a little bit snarky.

I felt a burst of frustration as I replied, "Well, I could have brought the Seekers back with me just now, but I didn't. I could have turned Nate in a hundred times since I met him, but I haven't, and I could have left Nate and Rob on that rooftop last night, but I drove like a crazy human through a cluster of Seeker cars to rescue them. Then I healed Nate's leg, tied up some Souls and left them to rot, and now I'm here, begging you to shoot me instead of him. If that doesn't convince you, then I don't know what will and you can just go back to your Little House in the Big Woods." My voice was tense by the time I was finished and even though I could not see his face, I could tell that Nate was smiling at my outburst. I was tired and I had spent the last fifteen hours driving all over the mountains, breaking laws, telling lies, tying Souls up, and trying to convince the humans that I was rescuing that I was on their side. I was exhausted. If she did not want to believe me, then I was fine with leaving her here in the snow—or at least that was what I was trying to convince myself of.

During my tirade, Jess had been paying attention to me and very little attention to Rob and Nate. I had not been paying attention them either, and while Nate was still standing a little ways away from Jess, when she had stepped to the side to get a better shot at me, she had put Rob a bit off to her side which gave him leverage for the stealthy attack he was preparing to make. In a move that took more courage than I had given him credit for, Nate yelled  _Seeker!_  at the top of his lungs to get Jess's attention while Rob attacked her from the side, grabbing the shotgun, which went off with a BANG!

Nate dropped to the ground and my instincts had me hitting the snow-packed road as well. I was not on the ground more than a second before I saw that Rob had his hands full keeping Jess away from both guns and Nate was still lying on the ground. I was up and running before I knew what came over me.

"Nate! Nate! Nate!" I was shouting without even knowing that I was shouting, sprinting toward my dearest friend in all the worlds I had known. My panicked yells interrupted the two wrestling humans just beyond his prone form. To her credit, Jess stopped fighting when she realized that Nate was on the ground, and her knees hit the snow.

"Oh my God! Did I shoot him? Did I shoot him? Tell me I didn't shoot him! Tell me he's okay!" She buried her face in her hands and sobbed, her entire tiny body shaking with her grief. Cole was barking his head off in the cab of the truck, but all of us were ignoring him as we focused on more important things.

Rob could see that she was no longer a danger, but he still picked up both guns and quickly unloaded them, pocketing the shells and magazine before dropping the guns and rushing to mine and Nate's side.

"Where did he get hit?" He asked breathlessly, his hands starting at Nate's head and working their way down, carefully examining for damage.

"I don't know, I don't see any blood, do you?" I questioned, my heart still beating double-time in my chest, "What is wrong with him? Where is he hurt?"

"I think the bullet missed!" Rob exclaimed, "I think he just passed out! He lost so much blood last night that the shock must have been just too much for his brain to handle, he's had a pretty stressful couple of hours."

I started laughing. It bubbled up out of me without warning or impedance. I could remember that Stephen, my host, had had a habit of laughing at really inappropriate times and this certainly qualified—Nate could have been seriously hurt!—but something about this situation seemed funny to me and pretty soon Rob was laughing too. Jess had just realized that Nate was, in fact, not shot, and was peeking out at us through the cracks in her fingers, her bright eyes wet with tears.

"I didn't shoot him? He's okay?" Her hopeful voice cracked with emotion as she wiped the tears from her face, her eyes going from me to Nate to Rob and back to me again.

"He's just dandy. Bit of a fainter though, nothing we can't tease him about later." I managed to get out between chuckles.

That just made Rob laugh harder, and Jess's face went from hopeful to confused. Our laughter was contagious though, and she scrunched up her face holding her breath in resistance for a second before she gave in too. She still looked like she had no idea why she was laughing, in fact, she looked like she did not even _want_  to be laughing, but there we were, three people all laughing because we had nearly been involved in a homicide.

We were still in stitches when Nate finally woke up and asked "What's so funny?" which just sent us off again. Nate was always in the mood for a good joke, even when he was the butt of it, so he asked again, "No really, what's so funny?"

I tried to get enough breath to answer him, but only managed, "We thought you were shot."

"Was I?" He asked, as if it was a perfectly reasonable question.

"Does it look like it?" Rob asked sarcastically, rolling his eyes, which sent both Jess and I off into more peals of laughter.

"Well, with all of Burn's special powers, you never know." Nate retorted, sticking his tongue out at Rob.

His answer caused the laughter to die in Jess's throat, "Wait, you guys have special powers?" She squeaked out.

Her comment sobered me up too. "Good grief, no, Nate is referring to the Soul healing medicines that seem like special powers to humans who have only had primitive solutions to wounds and illnesses before now. Our medicines are very effective and seem a bit like special powers to someone who has never known anything better than a band-aid."

"Oh."

The moment was lost and all four of us sat in an awkward silence for a second before Rob got to his feet, "Well… We should probably be getting on our way, don'tchya think?"

Jess and I got to our feet by way of answering, and Rob and I hauled Nate to his feet and began to help him toward the Hummer just a short distance away. Jess went in the opposite direction toward her own truck in order to get Cole who was ecstatic to be free. After Nate was settled, Rob, Jess, Cole, and I met in between the two cars for a little meeting.

"So, what's the plan?" Rob asked, eyeing Jess's old truck with distaste, "Should we consolidate and only take one car?"

"Yes."

"No."

Jess and I looked at each other in chagrine, "Well, if we take two cars, we are twice as likely to be caught, and I can't help you if you're in another car." I said.

"If we don't take two cars, then I have nothing to escape in should you be tricking me. There is no way that I'm going in a car with you." Jess replied in a determined tone, her eyes hard and her arms crossed. I was beginning to see why Nate and Rob did not argue with her when she suggested that they move further into the trees earlier. She was a very difficult person to say no to.

"Fine, but try to stay out of trouble." I sighed, and we both turned to walk back to our cars. On the bright side, I would not have to ride back to Boulder with the mutt in my car. Rob hopped in with Jess and Cole and we both turned our vehicles around and began the short ride back into Estes Park.

As we approached the gas station that I had filled up at earlier, I realized that I had forgotten to ask Jess if she needed gas. It was too late now and most of the drive was downhill so hopefully she would make it. I glanced at her and Rob in the rearview mirror to see them both with tense looks on their faces and in heavy conversation as we passed through some of the residential areas of town. Fortunately, we did not have to drive through downtown, but were able to cut to the east and get onto Highway 36 which would take us out of the mountains and right back to Boulder.

Once we were on the highway we settled into the monotony of going downhill and swishing around the curves. The hour drive passed much more quickly than any of the previous treks we had made through the mountains and before I knew it, we were making a turn south to continue on Highway 36 toward Boulder, just fifteen minutes from home. Jess and Rob never strayed from my tail, and I knew that whatever Rob was saying to her was convincing her to at least give our little group a try.

It was only mid-afternoon, just sixteen hours since Nate and I had left, but I felt like a lifetime had passed. My house was on the north side of town, so we did not have to go through any traffic before we turned into my neighborhood and onto my street. As we pulled into the driveway, opened the garage door, and squeezed both our cars into the safety of its shelter, I took a deep breath knowing that now, with four humans in the house, one of whom was a spitfire female, I was going to need every ounce of Soul patience I had.

Eric met us in the garage, waving his meat carving knife in the air in anger, "You have a lot to answer for! Where have you been? You left me here surrounded by aliens on all sides! I could have been killed!"


	25. Recordation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hi! So, exciting announcement! If you go to www.photobucket.com/gonenative there are (slightly awkward) avatars that show what each character looks like in my head (I mean, if they were cartoon characters, this is what they'd look like). The program I used to create them had flaws (I couldn't make Eric as... overweight... as I wanted, and Maria doesn't look quite right...). But it's the basic idea anyway. There are two new characters on there that have not been introduced yet, so you can speculate as to what they'll be like and how we'll meet them :) Also on that photobucket account are photos of their new home, which they will be arriving at in just a few chapters :).

Nate and I had identical looks of annoyance on our faces as Eric blasted us with his tirade about being left alone and nearly killed. Too tired to even speak to him, I helped Nate inside and took him into Eric's bedroom.

Eric followed us, knife still in hand, and stopped cursing long enough to ask "Why is Nate sleeping in here? This is my bedroom!"

I turned to Eric and, my voice tight with restrained anger, told him, "Nate nearly was killed last night and needs to sleep on an actual bed in order to regain his strength. You'll be sleeping in the basement from now on, because once Nate is better, the women will be needing the bedrooms.

"Women?" Eric said the word like it was a disease.

"You got a problem with that?" Jess spoke from the bedroom doorway, Cole sitting on her left side and her shotgun in her right hand. I hoped that Rob had not given her any ammunition.

Eric's face lost all its color as he turned to face the tiny woman in the doorway, and he mutely shook his head "no" and sat down in front of his computer without another sound.

After Nate was settled, I showed Rob the basement where he promptly collapsed on the floor. I trudged back up the stairs knowing that I still had several things to do before I could join the rest of them in peaceful slumber. My hand was on the doorknob to the garage when Jess interrupted me.

"Where are you going?"

"I have to go empty the Hummer and then take it somewhere and drop it off so that no one connects it to us. I also have to inform the authorities that we left 3 Souls tied up in the mountains so that they can make sure they're safe." My rambling reminded me that I needed to ask Eric to remove all records of our prints and other identifying data from the police databases.

Jess's beautiful green eyes were troubled as she replied, "How are you on our side if you still care about the aliens so much?"

"I don't know," I replied honestly, "I guess I just figure that I can't do anything about the Souls that are already here, I can just help save the humans that are still fighting to survive. I don't want to hurt my fellow Souls, but I don't want to hurt you either." It was such a complicated situation, if only Souls and humans could coexist together peacefully.

She nodded thoughtfully and said no more. I turned and opened the garage door and was surprised to find that Jess followed me. She had not been up all night like the rest of us so she had no reason to sleep right now, but I had not expected her to help me. We worked in comfortable silence emptying the Hummer, haphazardly stacking the supplies around the garage. I knew we would have to sort through it all later, but right now I was just too tired. It only took us about fifteen minutes to get it all out of the Hummer. When we were through, Jess returned to the living room and turned on the TV while I poked my head into the guest bedroom where Nate was sleeping and Eric was working on the computer.

"Eric, would you mind hacking into the government and police databases and deleting all the files that they have on all of us? I'm sure we left fingerprints and DNA all over and I want to make sure they can't trace anything back to us."

Eric responded with a monotone voice, his face expressionless, "I did that weeks ago for you, me, and Nate, but I'll see what I can do for the new peeps."

I smiled, as irritating as Eric was, he was incredibly helpful, "Thank you Eric, maybe also get the names of the two women who Rob knows that we'll be retrieving soon, that way you don't have to do it again so soon." I paused for a second before I added, "I have to run out for a bit, I'll be back soon."

I turned and left, shouting a goodbye to Jess in the living room, and hopped into the Hummer. I gave it one more check to make sure that all evidence of us was gone and then I backed it out of my garage. I was nearly out of the driveway when I noticed Jess running toward me from the garage. I quickly put the Hummer in drive and rolled back into the garage and rolled down my window, wondering what she needed.

"How are you going to get back?" She asked as she approached the window.

"I don't know. I thought I might call a cab or something." I said shrugging.

"But then someone might remember you. Hold on, let me get my keys. I'll follow you and bring you home."

I was surprised at her offer, but it made sense. If Nate had been well and we had had the other car, I probably would have had him do the same thing, but I never would have asked Jess to do it. I was not going to say no, though, so I backed out of the garage a second time and waited for her to join me. Once she was out of the driveway and behind me on the street, I took off. I had been thinking on the way down the mountains where I would drop the Hummer off and I had decided that I wanted to put it somewhere that had lots of other cars and people but that did not have security cameras. I did not want to be seen. For this reason, I drove out to the highway and made my way east toward the interstate. When I got there, I pulled into the Park & Ride parking lot and sat in the car for a moment until no one was around. As soon as it was all clear, I hopped out, tossed the keys into a nearby irrigation ditch, and jumped into Jess's waiting green Ford.

Without a word she turned out of the parking lot and we began our drive back home. I glanced over at her and was surprised to find that she was relaxed behind the wheel, her small hands resting loosely on the steering wheel and her face smooth and calm. Sometime since we had arrived back at the house she had brushed her hair loose, the wavy golden strands glowing in the sun. I did not realize that I was staring at her until she glanced over at me and gave me a small smile.

I blurted out the first thing that came to my mind, "You don't seem to mind driving in traffic," and it was true. It was about five in the evening and the interstate between Denver and Boulder was very busy.

She smiled and shrugged, "I went to college in Portland, Oregon, and compared to there, this isn't anything, trust me."

"College?" I asked, once again speaking before I thought.

She laughed a little and then sighed, "Yeah, I know I look seventeen, but I'm actually twenty-three."

All I managed to say to that was "Oh," as I processed the fact that this human girl,  _woman_ , I corrected myself, was actually only four years younger than my human host. After a short and slightly awkward pause, I added, "What did you study in college?"

She snorted a laugh and said, "Sociology. You wouldn't believe it, but that actually saved my life. Well, actually, Cole saved my life. Maybe both of them saved my life, I'm not really sure."

"What do you mean?" I asked curiously.

"Well, my best friend Janie went to Uganda her last semester of school to do some relief work and I got a letter from her a week before graduation telling me that there were aliens out there who were taking over everything and that at first she thought it was a good thing because the wars and the hunger disappeared but then she realized that the aliens were actually taking over the humans, like making them disappear. She was really scared and she didn't know how to get away from them but she wrote to me and told me that I needed to be on guard about it. I honestly didn't believe her." She paused and I had the urge to take the hand that was sitting on the center console, just to comfort her. I kept my distance, however, and after a moment she resumed, "A week later, I graduated and got on a plane to come home. I was doing an experiment that I sometimes do in crowded places where I put headphones in and don't turn any music on and listen to people's conversations. It's kinda a dishonest thing to do, but I was glad I did it this time because the two people next to me were talking about Souls and being inserted and different planets. It took me the whole plane ride to figure out that they were talking about the same thing that Janie warned me about. I was so scared. My family met me at the airport and they seemed weird. They were talking funny and my brothers didn't tackle me like they usually do. I was on pins and needles the whole way home because I wanted to talk to them about what I had heard on the plane but I didn't know how to bring it up. Then we got home and Cole was so excited to see me, but he was growling at my family and wouldn't let any of them come near me. He grabbed my sweatshirt and literally dragged me out of the house and into the garage and when my parents followed, he barked at them and I think he would have attacked them if they had tried to come any closer. I figured it out then that the aliens had taken them too, and I was so scared that I just jumped in the truck with Cole and we left. I haven't been back since. So yeah. Cole saved my life, and I guess so did one of my sociology experiments." She finished with a small smile, but I knew that she was mourning her family.

"I'm so sorry about your family, Jess, but I'm glad that you figured it out and escaped."

"Janie figured it out, and Cole figured it out. I just ran away." She said, her green eyes hollow and centered on the road.

"You did the only thing you could have. If you had stayed, you'd be gone by now." I said gently.

She did not respond, just reached up and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. She stared straight ahead, but I could not help but glance over at her from time to time. I found myself incredibly grateful to Cole for dragging her out of her parents house and saving her life. I might have to be nice to the mutt after all.

When we were nearly two-thirds of the way home, I asked Jess to pull into a gas station. She had a pair of sunglasses in her glovebox already so she put those on and I hopped out. I filled up her tank without having to make any small-talk with the attendant and while I was waiting, I walked over to a payphone that was sitting outside the convenience store and picked it up. I dialed 911 and waited for the answer.

"911, what is your emergency?" A woman's voice asked calmly over the phone.

"I would like to report three kidnappings." I said in a tone much lower than my normal voice.

"Kidnappings?" The woman clarified.

"Yes, I left two Souls tied up in a house up on Highway 72 and another Soul tied up in the woods just off Highway 7. I can't tell you exactly where, just go look and make sure you find them." With that, I hung up the phone.

I walked back to the truck, replaced the gas nozzle, twisted the cap back on, and hopped back in.

"Did you call the police to tell them where the Souls were tied up?" Jess asked, and by the look on her face I could tell that she was not sure how she felt about me saving the Souls.

"Yes." I said. We finished the rest of the drive home in silence.

When we arrived home I showed Jess my bedroom and told her that she could use it for the time being and then I went downstairs and collapsed on the floor and drifted off into a deep, deep sleep.

When I awoke the next morning, I was surprised to see that it was already nine in the morning. Usually an early riser, I had overslept my normal wake-up time by several hours. I rolled over and stretched, already feeling knots in my back from sleeping on the hard basement floor.

I gingerly got to my feet, feeling like an old man, and stumbled up the stairs, rubbing my eyes and trying to smooth my hair down. Rob was standing in the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee, freshly showered and looking as though he had never felt better.

He smirked as I arrived, and poured me a cup of coffee, shoving it into my hands, "Sleep well?"

"I must have, but I think we need to buy mattresses ASAP, that floor is brutal."

Rob chuckled, "I've slept on worse, believe me. Between the army and traveling like I have, that is nothing."

"You were in the army?" I forced my body to stay where I was and not retreat in fear as I asked the question.

"Yeah, for a while. After three tours in the Middle East I didn't reenlist. Spent the last couple of years just wandering around with my backpack."

The knives, James Bond impersonations, insane driving and first aid skills all made sense now. He was a military man. Why did we have to rescue the violent humans? Why not the nice ones? Between angry Eric, trigger-happy Jess, and army Rob, this house was liable to blow up!

I took a long gulp of my coffee and switched the subject, "How do you want to go about rescuing your friends Rachel and Maria?"

Rob sighed and sat down at the kitchen table, "I don't know. I've gone over and over it in my head and I just don't know how we're going to sneak in there. They're completely hidden where they are, but there really is no way in or out without being seen. I'm sure they've got the whole block being watched day and night."

"What if we didn't sneak? What if we just walked right up to it and left with them?"

Rob looked at me, startled, "How would we do that?"

"Well, that is basically how Nate and I rescued you. I'm a Soul; they trust me. As a species, we do not doubt what the other says because none of us have reason to lie to the others. If I were to go and get them, they would never suspect me."

"I'd have to go with you, they'd never trust you by yourself." Rob said slowly, hope beginning to fill his voice.

"Could you write them a note or something? I don't think it's safe for you to go."

"No, they'd never believe a note. They'd think that I was taken over and that I wrote that as a Soul."

"What about a video?" A voice suggested and both of us turned around to see Jess walking into the kitchen with messy hair and wearing some of Nate's sweatpants and an old t-shirt, both of which were so baggy on her that she looked a bit like a ragamuffin.

I smiled at her in greeting while Rob considered her suggestion, "A video might work. If I took a video of myself telling them to trust you, and made sure that my eyes were in it, then maybe they'd do it."

"I think it's a good idea. If it doesn't work, then we can try again tomorrow and I'll bring you along, but there is no point in risking more exposure if we don't have to." I said.

Rob nodded slowly and thoughtfully, "Alright. We'll give it a try."

My phone had video recording and playback capabilities, so we decided to use that since it was small and easy for me to carry. We set up in the living room for our recording session and Rob asked that we wake Nate and Eric and have them join us. When Nate and Jess were situated on the couch and Eric was behind the camera—he refused to be in front of it—we started taping.

Looking straight into the camera, Rob began to talk, "Hi Rachel and Maria. I know I kinda left you in the lurch but it was actually a good thing. First things first, I'm still human." Eric zoomed straight in on his purely brown iris and then zoomed out, "I found other humans and they are going to help me rescue you. The thing is, this group of humans that I found, well, they've got a spy, sorta. His name is Burns and he is one of them, but he's gone native, I mean, he does everything he can to rescue humans. He saved my life and the lives of all the humans here. You can trust him." Rob stopped and motioned for me to join him, I did so smiling, partially because I wanted to make a good impression and partially because Rob had just said I had "gone native" and of all the descriptions that I tried to give people of what I had done, I liked this one the best.

"So this is Burns," Rob continued, "And he is a part of this group of humans and I need you to trust him and go with him because he can get you out of there. The silver-eyed people, they're called Souls by the way, trust him because he is one of them, but he is really on our side." I waited while the camera zoomed in on me this time to show that I did, indeed, have the silver ring around my eyes. Then Rob shifted gears again and had Eric point the camera at the couch, "And this is Nate and this is Jess. They both live here too. So does Eric, he's the one who is taping, say  _Hi_  Eric." Eric mumbled a "Hi" from behind the camera and Rob went back to talking, "Anyway, Nate and Burns are best friends and we just found Jess yesterday, so she's pretty new. Eric has been here for a while. They all live in Burns' basement and Burns brings them food and things to survive." Suddenly, Cole bounded into the living room and jumped onto Jess's lap and Rob laughed, "Oh, and how could I forget Cole, he is Jess's dog and he lives here too. So please, go with Burns, trust him, he'll keep you safe and bring you back here."

Rob finished his little speech and Eric stopped recording. We all gathered around the tiny screen of my phone to watch the playback. We decided that it was a success and I put it in my pocket, making sure it was fully charged, and headed toward the door. Jess pressed two pairs of sunglasses into my hands and I gave her a grateful look. Rob walked with me giving me a detailed description of where the two women were hiding. Everyone except Eric stood in the garage to see me off and I told them not to worry and then I pulled myself into Jess's old green Ford and backed out of the driveway.

 


	26. Destitution

I parked almost on the far east end of Pearl Street and got out of the truck, grabbed the first aide kit stuffing it in a backpack, and left the truck unlocked—no Soul would ever steal it and if a human needed it that badly, then I was happy to be of service. Strolling along as if I did not have a care in the world, I walked west on Pearl, taking time to window shop and smile at other weekend shoppers. I spotted a hat stand, one that sold everything from cowboy hats to baseball hats to bunny ears and shawls. Trying on a few different styles, I selected a nice shawl and a horrendously ugly cowboy hat that had a tie-dye drape on the back to cover a man's neck from being burnt in the sun.

The vendor walked up to me and asked, "What's the occasion?"

"Oh," I said, "just meeting a few friends from out of town, I wanted to give them something to remember Pearl Street by."

The vendor nodded approvingly, giving me both items. I placed the shawl in the bag and the cowboy hat on my head so I could continue on up the street. I stopped by the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory to get some caramel apples, giving the employee there the same excuse before stuffing the wrapped treats in the backpack and walking on.

About two blocks into my stroll, I spotted the bookstore that Rob had described to me. I walked down the steps that led into the basement-level shop and spent a few minutes browsing around, smiling at the other customers and pretending to be interested in a few of the displayed books. After a few minutes, I walked up to the counter.

"Do you have a restroom I could use?" I asked politely, looking apologetic.

"Sure, no problem, it's in the back," the female clerk replied, getting up from her post behind the counter and leading me to the back of the store. She showed me the door that opened up into a hallway that had several doors leading from it. The first on my right had the restroom sign on it, and I smiled at the clerk gratefully.

"Thank you so much."

"You're welcome." She said, and turned to walk back out to the front of the store.

I entered the bathroom and counted to twenty before re-entering the hallway. It was dimly lit and there were three other doors besides the bathroom. The first, I knew, was for the water heater and air conditioner, but I opened it anyway, just to check. The second was to the storage room, which I also double-checked. That meant the last one on the left must be the staircase. I opened the door silently. Jackpot.

I stepped onto the narrow staircase, closing the door behind me, and began to climb to the next level. The door at the top of the stairs opened with a creak, and I found myself in another hallway, very similar to the first but with wood paneling on the walls. Silently repeating Rob's directions in my head, I began to look around for a knot in one of the panels on the west wall. Finding it, I put my finger in and pulled. Sure enough, the panel gave way, opening like a door, and another hallway appeared, this one with stairs leading both up toward the roof and down toward the basement. I carefully closed the wood panel using a handle that was on the inside, and then made my way down the dark stairs toward the basement. At the bottom, a faint light flickered underneath a door, and I knew that I had found them. Unsure as to the best way to go about it, I decided that maybe I should just let the video do the talking. I pulled out my phone, pulled up the video, and slid it through the slit beneath the door. I waited a moment and then knocked quietly.

"Rachel, Maria. My name is Burns. Watch the video that I just gave you. Rob sent me here to take you to safety."

Complete silence greeted my introduction. I waited, unsure of what my next move should be. A full minute passed. Then two. I began to wonder if I had just pushed my phone under some random door. I tried the handle; it did not budge. I took a seat on the steps and waited some more. My ears were listening for the slightest of sounds and my eyes were focused on the flickering light underneath the door. Just after I sat down, I thought I saw a shadow pass behind the door, but no sound came, so I dismissed the notion.

I spoke again, "The people in the store think I'm in the bathroom, I can't stay up here forever. Either come with me now or I'll have to bring Rob back tomorrow. He's willing to risk his life to save yours, but are you willing to put him in that position? Watch the video, I can get you out of here."

Still no sound came from the other side of the door. I stood up, knowing that if I was going to maintain my cover story, I could not stay here too long.

I sighed loudly and stood. I began to climb up the stairs, wondering what else I could do or say to get Rachel and Maria, who were surely on the other side of that door, to believe me. I was halfway up when I heard the door crack open. I turned to see a beautiful Latina woman stick her head out. Her huge brown eyes were filled with fear, but her lovely features held a determined expression, and she spoke to me quickly, her voice quiet and clear.

"You are a friend of Rob's?"

"Yes. Are you Rachel?"

She nodded. "And you are…" she hesitated, swallowing, "One of them? With silver eyes?"

"Yes." I stood frozen on the stairs, looking down at her in the dark, only barely able to make out her features in the candlelight that was coming through the crack in the door.

"You will take us to him?" She licked her lips nervously, glancing back into the room.

"Yes." I said, taking one step down the stairs, toward her. She reacted like a scared animal, disappearing before I knew what happened. I froze again, but when she did not reappear, I covered the remaining six steps slowly and pushed the still-cracked door open.

The room was tiny, maybe six feet by six feet and with low ceilings. I had to bend over to fit inside. It was furnished with a cot, a crate for a table that held a candle, and two more crates to hold food and dishes. The crate to hold food had only one half-eaten package of crackers and a can of tuna left. An army style duffle bag sat under the cot, apparently filled with clothes. There was a water basin filled with filthy water in one corner of the room and in another corner was a bucket whose duty I could easily guess. The whole room reeked of filth and sickness. Rachel was crouching on the floor in front of the cot, holding a frying pan in both hands like a weapon. She was trembling from head to toe, and I could see Maria lying on the cot behind her, breathing shakily. The room was cold, and though heavy blankets were on top of Maria, she was shivering beneath them. My phone was on the floor with a pair of earphones plugged into it.

The situation was far more destitute than I had anticipated. There was no way I was leaving without these women. I looked directly into Rachel's eyes, the silver from my own eyes dancing in the reflections from the candlelight, and approached her slowly. She remained motionless, her eyes widening with fear. The frying pan shook in her hands, but I gently put one hand on her wrists, my large hand easily covering both of hers, and placed my other hand on her shoulder. I eased the frying pan out of her grasp,

"Everything is going to be alright. I'm going to get you out of here." I told her quietly.

Rachel collapsed into sobs, and without knowing what else to do, I gathered her into my arms. She came willingly, crying into my shoulder with her arms on my chest. I patted her back soothingly, whispering "It's gonna be alright; it's gonna be alright." Over and over again. After a minute or two, she seemed to realize that she was sobbing in a complete stranger's embrace, and she pulled away, wiping her tears away with her sleeve.

"Sorry. I just…" She stopped trying to explain and simply shrugged, "Sorry."

She took a deep breath, and turned toward the little room, "Mama is not going to like this."

"Being rescued?" I asked incredulously.

"No, being rescued by  _you_." She sighed. "She's so sick though, I don't think she would have lasted much longer down here."

"Neither of you would have." I said, exceedingly grateful that Rachel had decided to trust me today, rather than waiting until I had been forced to bring Rob tomorrow. It might have been too late.

"I have some medication that is going to help Maria. Rob warned us that she was ill, so I knew to come prepared?" I said, my tone making the statement a request for permission. Rachel just nodded.

I pulled off my backpack and set it on the ground, kneeling beside Maria. She was asleep on the cot, shivering with every breath. I quickly opened the first aide kit, and surveyed my choices. I had only ever treated injuries before, never illnesses, so I was unsure how quickly or well this was going to work. I gave a silent plea to the heavens that we would be able to help Maria enough to get out of here without attracting any attention and pumped a spray of mist from the  _Inside Clean_  in front of Maria's face, allowing her to inhale it. Next, I pulled out the  _No Pain_ , just in case, and slipped the thin piece of tissue onto her tongue, allowing it to dissolve. She was awakening now, so I stepped back, and let Rachel, who had been watching all of this in silence, take over.

The speed at which Maria sat up was alarming. She shoved Rachel behind her, grabbed the forgotten frying pan, and whisper-shouted, her accent thick and her gray hair wild about her sholders, "Who are you?" Her eyes were fierce and given how little space there was already in the tiny room, I jumped out the door.

Rachel was absolutely no help at all. She lay in the awkward position that Maria had shoved her into, completely mute, trying to give me some sort of silent message with her eyes. I went onto the defensive.

"Maria, Rob sent me here to help you. He knew that you were stuck here and sick so he sent me to come get you out of here. The phone," I pointed to my cell that was still on the floor with earphones attached to it, "has a video that explains everything. I'm not trying to hurt you, I'm trying to help you. But I don't have time to sit here and negotiate with you because the folks downstairs think I'm in the bathroom and pretty soon they are going to get concerned, or someone else is going to need to go and they'll find out that I'm not there anymore. I checked my watch. It had been eleven minutes since I had entered the bathroom. We really had to get going.

"We're not going anywhere with you." Maria declared furiously.

"Mama!" Rachel exclaimed, and then drew her breath in, clearly wishing she had not spoken at all. She lowered her eyes as Maria turned upon her.

"I've kept us alive this long and I'll continue to do so!" She hissed, and then she turned back to me, "You can leave."

"What am I going to tell Rob?" I asked, trying one more time to convince her to go with me.

"He's probably one of you by now, so tell him anything you want!" Maria shot back at me, and with that, she got up to shut the door in my face. Just before it shut, I caught a glimpse of Rachel's miserable expression, a tear creeping down one cheek.

I stood in shock for a second before I turned and started back up the stairs. I exited the secret hallway and then went back down the other narrow stairs to get back to the bookstore's back hallway. I slipped quietly into the store, grateful that my time away seemed to have gone by unnoticed, and grabbed a random book off a shelf, settling into one of the many available chairs. I opened to somewhere in the middle and began to read, or rather, pretend to read, all the while pondering the two ladies who were, at this moment, somewhere behind the wall I was sitting next to.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just sayin, if you've read this whole story and haven't reviewed yet, you should.


	27. Calculation

At some point, my interest in the book I was pretending to read grew from pretend to real and I devoured each page of the book with almost my whole focus, keeping just a tiny amount of my consciousness focused on the wall next to me and the door to the hallway that was just within my view. An hour passed, then two, and there was no sign of Maria or Rachel. Finally, I decided that it would be better to come back tomorrow with Rob. I stood, bringing my book with me, and walked to the counter.

"Thank you for a pleasant afternoon! I'd like to take this book home." I told the clerk, the same one who had helped me earlier.

She nodded and reached for the book so she could mark it off her inventory. She glanced at the title,  _Colorado: A History_  and entered it into her computer quickly. She placed the book in a sturdy bag and handed it to me before saying, "I'm glad that you found something you liked, and we hope to see you again soon!"

I nodded my thanks and turned to leave. Once out the door, I allowed my eyes to adjust to the bright sunlight before walking back to the car. About halfway there, I reached into my pockets to grab my cell phone so I could call Nate to let him know how it went, only to discover that my pocket was empty. I switched the book bag to my other hand and checked my other pocket, but it was not there either. I checked a third time with no luck. I stopped and put the book down, giving all the pockets of my coat and my jeans a thorough turning-out. My cell phone was nowhere to be found.

My mind started to turn to mush as my pulse quickened. That cell phone had the video where we not only explained who we were and what we did, but it also showed every person in our group, Eric excluded. If it got into the wrong hands we were all dead.

I mentally retraced my steps, all the while berating myself with my stupidity. Where had I lost it?

I realized that while I was mentally retracing myself, I was physically retracing them as well, and at a breakneck pace. I managed to pull up just before the bookstore door, forcing my brain to be rational. Where had I last had my phone?

Then I realized that my panic was completely unnecessary, because I was not the last person to have used my phone at all. Rachel had been. She had never returned it to me after watching the video. It had still been lying on her floor when Maria kicked me out.

I literally collapsed in relief, sinking onto the top stair that led down to the basement bookstore. A concerned Soul walking by immediately asked me if I was alright, but I just waved him off, telling him I was perfectly fine.

Rachel had my phone and my backpack with the medical supplies, the shawl, and the caramel apples. Not only was my phone safe, but I had accidentally slipped Rachel and Maria a communication device without them knowing it. This actually might be a good thing.

_Or maybe Rachel had never returned the phone on purpose?_

Whatever the reason, accident or on purpose, I picked up my book bag and once again walked toward the car.

I stopped at the grocery store on my way home, knowing that with twice as many mouths to feed we would need more food—besides it was a sure way to make Eric happy. I loaded the cart with our usual fare and then added more things from the aisles dedicated to Mexican food. I thought that Maria would like that, once she realized that she needed to trust us.

I put it all in the back of the truck and made my way back to the house, wondering how the humans had gotten along without me for the last few hours.

I entered the house hauling a few of the bags, only to have to duck as some kind of projectile came at me from the direction of Nate's bedroom. Next, I heard him shout, "I'm telling you Eric, if you don't find me some clean sheets and febreze, I'm going to use your kitchen knives for my carpentry projects!" I looked down. Nate had thrown a rubber band ball.

I looked over to the living room where Jess was sitting with the expression of someone who grew up with brothers: slightly amused, a little annoyed, but mostly ignoring the whole ordeal as she watched some kind of Soul Sitcom. She had a basket of laundry in front of her and was folding it as she watched. Cole was asleep at her feet. Eric was in the kitchen chopping something green at a rate that was both impressive and alarming. Rob was presumably the one making the hammering noise down in the basement, and I was glad that he at least was making himself at home. No one had noticed my entrance, so I walked toward the kitchen with my groceries, keeping my face neutral. Jess noticed me first, and her face immediately fell when she realized that I was not accompanied by anyone else. She got up silently and went down the stairs.

I set the bags on the counter behind Eric, and knowing it was pointless to ask him to help me bring any more bags in, I said, "I have more in the truck, I'll go get them."

Eric did not even turn around, just nodded, continuing to chop whatever potent green thing he had on the cutting board. I turned around, making a stop by Nate's bedroom. He was sitting up in bed, arms crossed, and when he saw me shake my head, he sighed.

"You'll get 'em tomorrow Burns. I mean, they were there, right?"

"Yeah, they were there. I left them my phone."

"Well okay then, we'll send Rob tomorrow and we'll convince them that they need to come back. It's okay, we'll save them."

I could not say anything back because suddenly I was really tired, so I just gave him a half smile and a nod and turned to go back to the garage to get more groceries. I nearly knocked Jess over as she came in, carrying at least six bags in each hand and moving as quickly as possible toward the kitchen counter.

"Move!" She grunted, trying to get past me. I flattened myself against the wall and watched in amazement as she hauled all the groceries up onto the counter.

"Jess, I could have gotten those, and you didn't have to bring so many in one trip!" I exclaimed, turning to head back out to the garage to get the rest.

She huffed, "There aren't any more, I got them all."

"All of them?" I asked incredulously.

"You're only supposed to make one trip. Everyone knows that." She rolled her eyes as she started to pull food out of the bags.

Nate yelled from the bedroom, "It's true!" and I just shook my head. Humans.

Rob appeared from the basement at that moment and I gave him an apologetic look. "I'm so sorry Rob, I did everything I could without attracting attention. Rachel would have come with me, I think, but Maria was just absolutely against it."

Rob nodded his head, "I expected as much. How are they doing?"

I smiled, "Why don't you ask them yourself?" I picked up the house phone and dialed my cell. Once I was sure it was ringing, I handed the phone to Rob.

I stayed close enough to hear Rachel say "Hello?" and then backed away. I did not need to hear the conversation. The blissful smile on Rob's face told me all I needed to know.

There was not room in the kitchen for all of us, and besides, I wanted to tell Nate the details of my trip, so I went into his room, making a detour to pick up his rubber band ball, and pulled Eric's desk chair next to his bed. I handed him the ball and he immediately began to add more rubber bands from a pile next on the bedspread. I made a mental note to buy more.

"How were things here today?" I asked him as I took in the number of rubber bands that were scattered around the room.

"Fine. Eric is getting on my nerves. I had to take matters into my own hands." He picked up a rubber band and slipped it over his right finger and thumb, holding it down with his pinky. He took aim and fired, hitting the corner of the doorframe dead on. "I'm bored." He sighed.

"I can see that." I said, trying not to smile. At times, Nate was such a child. "Where did you find the rubber bands?"

"Jess found them for me, not sure where." He aimed again, this time hitting the window frame. I smiled. Leave it to Jess to understand that Nate needed toys. Nate sighed again and resumed his construction of the rubber band ball. "So what happened today?"

I told him the whole story, from beginning to end, leaving out only the way that Rachel had sobbed in my arms. At some point, Rob joined us. Though I had a feeling that he had heard a lot of this story from Rachel, it was good that he hear it from me too. I finished with my panic about losing my phone, only to realize that I had actually left it with the women. I shrugged. "I think that was actually a happy mistake." Rob nodded vehemently in agreement.

"You forgot something else that was in the backpack, Burns." Rob said.

"Oh? What?" I asked.

"Sunglasses. They have two pairs. Maria found them and decided that was all they needed to get out of there. They're leaving this afternoon because she's convinced I've been turned. When I called, Maria was sleeping again, so I managed to convince Rachel to meet us on one of the cross streets. We can just drive by, I'll show her my eyes, and she and Maria can hop in before Maria realizes what's happening. Then we can just come back. Should be a piece of cake."

Somehow I could not imagine Maria making anything easy, but I was willing to give it a try. "Could Eric replace Jess's truck's registration information in the Seeker and former police databases with new information that matches another address? And are there any other precautions we need to take?"

Rob left the room quickly and moments later, Eric appeared in the bedroom, with a knife in his hand and a scowl on his face. I explained what we needed done and he gave me an angry stare before turning to the computer.

"How do you expect me to get this done without a chair?" He glared at me. I immediately got up and rolled his desk chair back over to him, and though Nate's eyes were begging me not to, I left the room. A rubber band nicked my ear as I left.

Jess was back to folding laundry, the TV playing softly in the background. Dinner was half-made in the kitchen, and I would help, but I did not have a death wish and Eric did not have patience for my culinary skills, so I sat next to Jess on the couch and grabbed a shirt, which I recognized as mine. I folded it quickly and placed it on the piles she already had made and quickly glanced her way.

"Thanks for doing this. We aren't very good at household chores."

"Oh, it's no problem. It's a dream to have a machine again." I pondered that for a moment, realizing that in the mountains, washing clothes was probably much more laborious.

"Were you able to bring any of your own clothes with you?" I asked, realizing that she was still wearing the sweatpants and baggy t-shirt that she had slept in.

"I didn't have much to bring, but yes, I brought what I had." I nodded at her reply and realized that feeding and housing the people we rescued was not going to be my only chore. I was going to have to clothe them too. I added that to my mental list, along with toys for Nate.

Rob sank onto the couch on the other side of Jess. "I'm so worried that we won't get them out in time. Or that Maria will refuse to come with us. Or that all of us will be captured. Or that… I don't know. I'm worried about everything."

I looked at his tense face. His anxiety seemed a bit out of character, but then again, he was in love and love made men do strange things. "Well, whatever it is, it can't be as bad as rescuing you!" I declared with a grin.

* * *

I was right. Rescuing Maria and Rachel on our second attempt was quite smooth, considering. Rob and I were camped out in a parking spot just off of Pearl Street waiting for Rachel's signal. When Rachel texted telling us that they were out of the shop and on their way to the cross street, Rob and I pull out of our parking space and crept along the road, waiting to spot them. We saw them long before they saw us, and waiting for them to approach was agony for Rob who I had to physically restrain from jumping out of the vehicle. Rachel eventually saw us, and when she began to steer Maria in our direction, Maria, as expected, put up a fight.

That is when I allowed Rob to jump out, which he did hastily, so that he could run up to the bickering women. He slipped his sunglasses off, said a few earnest words, and pointed to the truck. Maria still shook her head no, at which point Rob switched to plan B. As discreetly as possible, and after giving Rachel a gentle shove in the direction of the truck, he slipped a canister of Sleep from his sleeve, sprayed it in Maria's face, and picked her up. He walked, per my instructions, the last 10 feet to the truck without panic and held her up to my waiting arms. We settled her into the front seat while Rob climbed into the back next to Rachel. Shutting the doors, I was just about to leave when someone tapped on my window.

The three conscious people in the truck all froze as I turned to my window to see who it was. A Soul was on the other side, a smile on her face. I rolled down my window hoping that I would be able to talk myself out of this situation instead accidentally leading a bunch of Seekers on another high-speed chase. I took a breath and smiled.

"Hi there." I said doing my best to make my smile look genuine.

"Hi, I just saw that your friend needed help to the car. I'm a Healer and I wanted to offer my services."

"Oh, thank you, that's so kind, but she's just tired. She gets like this sometimes. She has had it checked out. I appreciate you taking the time to stop though."

"You're welcome." Said the concerned Soul.

I rolled up my window and drove toward home. Two audible sighs escaped the backseat and I checked my mirror to find tears glistening down Rachel's cheeks and a look of absolute joy and relief on Rob's.


	28. Speculation

We returned to my house without a fuss and while I carried Maria into my bedroom, which had been occupied by Jess the last few days. Jess met Rob and Rachel at the door and gave Rachel a warm hug.

"Rob has told me so much about you. I'm Jess. Would you like a bath or dinner first?"

Rachel sagged in relief. "A bath sounds like a dream." She whispered, slowly raising her eyes to meet Jess's. The two women smiled in understanding and Rob surrendered Rachel to Jess's care as she led her to the master bathroom.

Nate met Rob and me in the living room where we recounted our rescue of Rachel and Maria and then the three of us sat back in an easy silence. It was the first peaceful moment we had had since the radio transmission had come in two days before. Suddenly I remembered something I needed to discuss with Nate. I jumped up and ran out to the truck, grabbing the book I had bought from the bookstore earlier that day from under the seat. I ran back inside, took my place back on the couch, and looked at Nate and Rob with a triumphant smile on my face.

"I have great news. I think." I began as I opened up to the section I had marked in the book.

"Do you?" said Nate, "About what exactly?

"Where we're going to move to after this."

"And you got this idea from a book?" Rob asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Yes! I never knew how much history Colorado had! The Titan Missile Program was set up during the cold war and they created these massive underground compounds to hold the missiles which were about 90 feet tall. I'm guessing that the Souls want little to do with Titan missile silos, and they're underground, and I think it'd be perfect!" I turned the book around to show him the photos from the book which included diagrams of what the silos looked like on the inside and a full history of what they were like when they were in working order.

"Wait, wait, wait. Missile silos? Are you mad? Aren't those things radioactive?" Nate asked.

"Some are, most were, but a lot of them have been restored, mostly by private investors. All the missiles got removed in the 1980s, and most of them were decontaminated soon after that, so I can't imagine the Souls would be keeping tabs on them. They're actually pretty cool." Rob said nonchalantly. Both Nate and I looked at him astonished.

"So you know about this stuff?" I asked him excitedly.

"Well, not really. I mean, a bit. I knew a Sergeant in the army who was obsessed with this stuff. He had all of the ones in the US mapped out and wanted to visit them. His goal was to buy one with his retirement money I think, and turn it into a hotel or something. The compounds are enormous, basically a city underground, with areas for water management, huge storage areas, kitchens, a hospital, sleeping areas, offices, bathrooms and showers. The place powers itself with huge generators. It'd be perfect if we could find one, but finding one is the problem. They're not exactly labeled on Google Maps. "

I glanced at Nate and could already see the wheels in his head whirling. This idea had possibilities. If we could find one and make it livable, it had all kinds of potential. We could house dozens of people underground without being sighted. We could store food and supplies and there would be enough room to give Eric his own computer lab so that the rest of us could live in peace. Yes, we needed to find one of these silos. Soon.

Before we could put any plan into action, Rachel and Jess appeared in the hallway. Rachel's hair was wet, but she looked absolutely content. Jess led her into the kitchen and prepared a simple meal of sandwiches and soup, making enough for all of us. I joined them and warmed up some coffee and water for tea while Nate cut up some fruit to go with the sandwiches. Rob set the table and the five of us sat down. At the last minute, I remembered to call Eric, and he slouched in and sat at the far end of the table, as far from Rachel and Jess as he could get.

"Rachel, this is Eric, he's our computer genius and is largely responsible for the rescue of everyone, you, Maria, Jess, and Rob." I said by way of introduction. Rachel looked up in surprise and then gave Eric a warm smile.

"My mother and I give you our thanks, Eric, and I especially thank you for saving Rob, he is a dear friend."

Both Rob and Eric blushed at her remark, and the table became awkwardly silent as people munched sandwiches and slurped soup.

Suddenly Cole, who had been absent most of the afternoon, appeared at Rob's feet. Jess sighed.

"It's his only vice. At the cabin, I didn't have any dog food so I had to feed him what I ate and now he's a beggar. Cole, Go!" She commanded, pointing toward the master bedroom. He hung his head and trotted down the hallway.

I sighed too. "We don't have any dog food here either. Would you like me to pick some up tomorrow?"

Jess looked at me hopefully, "That'd be great, if you don't mind. Thank you."

I gave her a smile. "It's no problem." I did not mind at all.

We turned the conversation to our idea of finding a Titan missile silo to turn into a compound to live and in the idea was met with enthusiastic replies. Even Eric seemed to think the idea had merit, but that might have been because Rob described a place that had enough room for him to build a complete computer lab, all for himself. The women naturally had concerns about the safety of such a place, especially if we ever had children join our group, and I took a mental note to make sure that we guarded ourselves against any accidents like that.

From talking about the silo, we turned our conversation to Maria and how best to convince her that this group was her best chance at surviving the end of the world. Rachel was noticeable quiet during this talk, but Rob had plenty of ideas for what we were now calling an "intervention."

After dinner I volunteered to do cleanup while the rest of them participated in the Maria Intervention. I figured my Soul presence would only make things worse. Eric, of course, was absent as well as he was back on his computer doing whatever it was that he did.

While I cleaned, I strained my ears to eavesdrop because Soul or not, I wanted to know what was going on in that room. Fortunately, thanks to Nate, they had left the door open and I could hear most of what was said.

The first words out of Maria's mouth were "Rachel, let me see your eyes!" and it got worse from there. Once she saw everyone in the room's eyes, she demanded to be allowed to leave, which Nate would not let her do. Rachel was as silent during all of this as she had been at the table and I wondered if it might have been better to just leave her out of it completely. It seemed that when it came to her mother, she had no backbone at all.

At one point, there were a lot of thrashing sounds and after a few moments, I heard Jess's voice over all the murmuring and grunting. She was shouting and she was absolutely irate.

"Listen lady, I don't know who you think you are, but we are trying to help you. We've proved to you that we're all human, you've seen our eyes, and still you're trying to escape. Where do you think you're gonna go? You're surrounded by aliens on all sides! You don't have to believe that Burns is a good alien, but if you can't trust your fellow humans, then you're not going to survive this. Are you listening to me? You aren't going to survive this if you don't trust us. And you can trust us because we need you too. We have to stick together to get through this. And also, if you decide that you don't trust us, then yes, you can go, but you're not taking Rachel with you. I will not allow it and neither will anyone else in this group. She wants to stay and we want her here and she isn't leaving, so unless you want to leave on your own, you should stay too."

Even from the kitchen I could tell that Jess had used up every piece of emotion she had in her speech. A moment later she flew out of the room and into the kitchen. Her hair was messy and her face was red and she looked at me with a fire in her eyes that was so full of life that I was drawn to her like a magnet. As I approached her she quickly turned her back on me and crossed her arms, her wild hair spilling over her shoulders. After just a few seconds, she turned back around and looked at me with tears in her eyes and whispered, "Please be a good alien; I couldn't stand it if you were a bad one." And she left me standing alone in the kitchen, a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes.

I stood there repeating her words over and over in my head, _Please be a good alien; I couldn't stand it if you were a bad one,_  and every time I said it to myself, I felt a pin prick my heart. If she knew how bad of an alien I really was she would hate me. I had murdered hundreds if not thousands of sentient beings. I was as bad as they came.

The dishes were not finished and Maria was forgotten. I moved to the couch in the living room and sat while I stared into space. She wanted me to be a good alien. But I was a bad one. The worst one.

I don't know how long I sat there, but eventually, Nate joined me.

"Maria is staying." He said. "Not sure why we want her to. She's going to be a pain."

I just nodded mutely. This was better for Rachel's sake and therefore for Rob's. I could already tell that Rob was going to be a valuable part of our team, so in a roundabout way, this was a good thing.

Nate looked at me curiously. "Is something bothering you?"

I blurted out the first thing that came to mind: "Am I a bad alien?"

Nate busted up laughing, "No! Absolutely not! You're the best alien I've ever heard of! Whatever gave you that idea?"

I hesitated. Nate knew about my history on the Fire planet, but he must not fully understand it if he thought I was a good alien. "Well, on the Fire Planet I was responsible for murdering hundreds, maybe thousands of sentient beings. The Walking Flowers felt every minute of agony when I burnt them alive. On this planet, I'd be sentenced to death for something like that." I was examining my hands, twiddling my thumbs as I stated this, but I chanced a glance in his direction as I finished and was surprised to find him looking at me compassionately.

"Burns, did you know that you were causing the Walking Flowers pain?"

"No, but…"

He didn't give me a chance to rebut, "Then your crimes were unintentional. Horrible, yes, but all is forgiven, and you're still a good alien. Your soul, I'm talking about what we humans consider a soul, is good to its core, and I am honored to have you as my friend."

I felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders as Nate's words sunk in. I was forgiven. It was an amazing concept. Would Jess forgive me too?


	29. Cohabitation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is written in a bit of a different style from normal. Sorry. Writers block.

I was spending a lot of time alone in the car. It was mostly Maria's fault. And Rachel's. And Rob's. And Eric's. And Nate's. And Jess's.  _And mine._

It was Maria's fault because I could not be in the same room with her without her trying to attack me, either verbally or physically. Rob had had to jump between us more than once. So had Jess. Now that she was feeling better, Maria never seemed to shut up. The woman was constantly chattering in a mixture of Spanish and English that only Rob and Rachel understood—but I got the general idea. She thought I was evil and she wanted me to go away. She trusted no one anymore, not even her daughter, and was determined to leave. She was not allowed to leave—Nate would not let her and I got the feeling Rob would physically restrain her before he allowed her to abandon Rachel, so I was the one who had to vacate until things calmed down. I was only too happy to comply. There were many other reasons for me to leave the house.

It was Rachel's fault because she was confusing. She was not a normal human. She was quiet and timid and observant and obviously intelligent, yet I felt like she needed the most care out of everybody. She acted more like a Soul than a human, and when it came to her mother, she had no free will at all. She simply did what she was told. For a woman who was at least thirty years old—I had not asked her age, my human memories told me that might be rude—there was very little indication that she was even an adult. When she was away from her mother, she was a different person altogether, but in our tiny house, that was a rare moment. On top of it all, she seemed completely unaware that she was a beautiful woman and even more unaware that Rob was in love with her. So much drama surrounded her and her mother that I was exhausted just thinking about it—better just to drive.

It was Rob's fault because he had gone into military freak mode. While he sometimes showed his softer side when he was with Rachel, and was perhaps the only one of us that could handle Maria, it was his military side that most of us saw: controlled, calculating, and strategic. There were routines now. Weapons were concealed at every entrance—windows and doors. He was creating escape plans for every situation, with meet-up points, code words, and survival kits. He had the entire neighborhood mapped down to the smallest shrub. He had created a 24-hour surveillance schedule in which every human had to take a shift—Eric included. Eric was about to self-destruct.

It was Eric's fault because Eric is Eric and when he is unhappy, everyone is unhappy. He was furious that he had to share his "lair," irritated that he had to give up his bed, completely worked up about guard duty, and incensed that not just one, but  _three_  women had moved into our house. He was taking his anger out on everyone in the house, and everyone was doing their best to avoid him. I counted myself lucky that I was allowed to leave.

It was Nate's fault because even though everyone else in the house was grumpy, Nate was just bored. He would continue to be weak for a few more weeks until his body had remade all the blood he had lost, so I was determined to find him something to occupy his attention. He was flinging rubber bands throughout the house during every waking hour and constantly requesting company. His efforts at winning over Cole were slowly paying off and he managed to convince the German Shepherd to spend the afternoon with him. I discovered afterward that he had hidden a container of chicken scraps under his pillow to feed him at regular intervals to convince him to stay. I had tracked down some nerf guns in an antique store that specialized in human toys, a purchase that I immediately regretted as Nate considered any living, breathing thing a target, something which the easily annoyed humans, Eric especially, were not thrilled about. I tried to buy him a book of puzzles, but he said he did not want to do brain work. I picked up a coloring book, a sketchpad, and colored pencils, but he flung those away too. I finally hit the jackpot when I found some video games in a box downstairs. I vaguely remembered them from my host's childhood, so I knew they would be perfect. I gathered them up and presented the to him with a smile. "Have at it." I said. Nate was bored no more, but I was exhausted.

It was Jess's fault because she was infuriatingly hard to understand. She was avoiding me and I had no idea why. She was surprisingly hard to find in such a small house. Not that I was looking for her. I just wondered where she was and what she was doing with her time since Cole was spending so much of his with Nate.

It was my fault because I was frustrated and was almost rude to my friends. I was so tired and so worried and so frustrated. I needed time to think and be alone, so I got in my new truck—I had needed to replace the one we had crashed in the mountains—and went for a drive.

* * *

The first time I went for a drive, I had no destination in mind. I just drove. It was finally the beginning of December and though there was no snow on the ground, it was very clearly winter. Or  _almost_  winter. It even  _looked_  cold outside, and the thermometer on my truck confirmed that—only 7 degrees. I drove alongside the foothills, the road curving as it traced the nearby mountains. Our little gang was getting big quite quickly. My small house was not nearly large enough to handle them, and even though moving into a silo in winter might be dangerous, especially if there were no working generators, I knew that we needed to consider it soon.

The drive was invigorating, but after 24 hours at home, I found that my frustrations had returned and I was escaping to my truck, hollering my excuses at the rest of them as I brought my truck to life in the garage. Sweet, sweet escape.

This time, I had an idea of where I was going. I navigated through the traffic of Boulder, got on the interstate, and headed southeast. It took me a few hours to get there, and even then, I was not sure if I was in the right place. I got out of the truck, and walked up to a chain link fence. My heart fell. This one was definitely not going to work.

I was staring at a Titan Missile Silo in Elbert County—or at least the top of one—and it was clear that whoever owned it was fully aware it existed. I did not even ask to tour it, just turned and walked away. At least now I knew what they looked like.

I went home and joined the others for dinner. I said nothing about my failure but tried to enjoy the conversation. Finding somewhere to live would have to be put off for at least one more day.

The third time I went for a drive, I was even more prepared. I had flashlight, sturdy boots, a length of rope, and even good cover story thought up in case I needed to use it on either my human friends or my Soul sisters and brothers.

I drove to the eastern outskirts of Denver and approached the former Lowry Bombing and Gunnery Range. There were two silos located on the property, and I had little hope that I would be able to access them because their exact locations had been so easy to find. Beyond them, there were two more, one on city property and one on a former army base. As I feared, all four were either in areas that were populated or inaccessible. We would have to find another one. I was running out of hope.

My research indicated that one more silo had to exist somewhere else in Colorado. Probably much further east on the plains where no one lived. We had no data to go on, no leads to follow. It was time I shared with my comrades what I had been doing on my afternoon drives.

None of them were surprised. I had not fooled a single one—except for maybe Maria, and she did not care. We began brainstorming locations and mapped out places for me to scout in the coming days.

December dragged on. I worked, went for drives unsuccessfully scouting locations, chatted with Nate who was regaining more strength every day, and tried to avoid all the drama that was contained in my tiny house. Rob, Rachel, and Jess were working together to finish the basement with Nate as their coach and a week before Christmas, everyone happily moved into their new sleeping quarters—three girls in one room and two guys in the other. Eric, who had apparently never planned on moving into the community housing, joyfully took up residence in the guest bedroom again, and announced the completion of his own project, a complete surveillance system for the house. I asked him in surprise when I had bought the cameras to which he haughtily replied, "I got them online and had them delivered to the house."

I moved back into the master bedroom to keep up appearances and truth be told, I was grateful for the solitude. The mood in the house was so uplifting and wonderful it was tangible. We all had our own beds for the first time, and life was good again. With the exception of Maria and Eric, people were not cranky anymore. Christmas was coming, and the holiday spirit was in the air. The women baked delectable Christmas cookies and deserts and Eric cooked amazing meals every night to let off his own stress. My scouting missions continued through it all, but each failure convinced me more that no more silos existed in Colorado. We would need to start looking out of state. Kansas, New Mexico, Arizona, and even Washington, had records of silos. Perhaps we should move on.

December 23rd, I made what I vowed would be my last silo scouting mission of the year. I drove to a tiny town in eastern Colorado named Deer Trail, through acres and acres of farm country. I worked my way through the patchwork of wheat and corn fields, singing along to the Christmas carols on the radio, looking for any sign of a silo under the snow.

It was the snowman that tipped me off.

He was out in the middle of nowhere.

And the footprints of the snowman's creator disappeared under a big, flat, piece of metal.


	30. Excavation

The snowman and I were surrounded by corn stalks on all sides, in a clearing that was off a dirt road that jutted off of a back road that was off another back road. I turned off my truck, gathered up my supplies, got out, and walked up to the snowman.

He had rocks for a mouth, corn stalks for arms, a dried piece of corn for a nose, and two more rocks for eyes. Around him, a pair of boot prints marred the snow— a little pair. They disappeared under what I could now see was a circular metal hatch.

I had found the last Colorado silo.

And clearly I was not the only one who knew it existed.

My internal debate did not last long. There were most likely humans in there. And from the looks of it, one of them was a child. I needed to help them. Common sense and prior experience said to approach this situation with caution, but I knew that if I left and these people thought they had been discovered, they would flee and we would lose our chance to help them.

My decision made, I pulled out my phone and tried to call the house phone. No service. Crap. Instead, I quickly drafted an email to Eric that explained where I was and what was going on and put it in my outbox. My phone would continue trying to send it until I was somewhere with service. It was the best I could do.

I took a deep breath, reached down, and yanked on the hatch.

Nothing happened.

I tried pushing to the side, sliding it from all angles, tugging, lifting, and twisting. Nothing worked. Either the hatch was locked from the inside or I was pathetically weak.

I gave up. I figured that this was not the only entrance to the compound. I would simply find another one. I did a full survey of the clearing, which was at least an acre or two big. There appeared to be three large, flat, circular patches under the snow where I assumed the missiles had once been intended to be shot from. I shuddered. I doubted I wanted to enter the compound via their 90-foot drop. A fourth rectangular area was adjacent to the hatch where the footprints disappeared into and I assumed that to be the cargo elevator.

From my research, I knew the silos to be much, much larger underground than just the three missile hatches and the elevator, so I exited the clearing, pushing my way into the cornfields surrounding it. The side of the clearing to the right of the road sloped downward and I followed it into the cornfields for a few hundred yards, nearly losing my footing when the gradual slope became a sheer drop-off. I looked down from where I stood and discovered that I was standing at the top of a tunnel of sorts. I quickly slid down the side of the hill and found myself looking at a tunnel that was large enough to drive a truck through covered by a grate. Corn was planted on top of the tunnel, up the sides, and right up to the entrance, but the tunnel itself was clear and dry. It was as though someone had planted the corn like that to hide it on purpose. The grate's slats were large enough for a man to crawl through, which I did.

I walked about ten feet before the tunnel teed. To my left, the tunnel only went about fifty feet and ended in two individual silos that were about fifteen feet deep and maybe five or six feet wide. They were both filled with wires and antennas and appeared to have wires that snaked out of the room and down the tunnel to the rest of the complex.

In my pocket, my phone beeped, letting me know that my email had sent.

In the tunnel to the right, I was staring straight into the rest of the underground compound and hundreds of feet of piping about fifteen to twenty feet in diameter with a flat floor that would be suitable for driving on. Any size vehicle, if you could navigate it through the cornfield and the first tunnel, would not have any problem fitting.

I pulled out my flashlight and began walking down the tunnel to the right that looked like it had no end. It was drafty and eerie and a few minutes into my walk, I was seriously reconsidering the intelligence of my plan as I realized that I only had one way to escape, and it was a very long way out.

Where was "now or never" Nate when I needed him?

I sighed and calculated my progress. As far as I could tell, I was about halfway to where the tunnel intersected and bent off to the right. I shrugged my shoulders and decided to take a page out of Nate's book. I was going to go for it.

As I neared the end of the longest straight stretch of tunnel, I clicked off my flashlight and stowed it on my belt. My heart sped up in anticipation and I rehearsed a speech in my head, something brilliant that would convince these rogue humans that I meant them no harm. I slowed down as I approached and made sure I was 100% aware of my surroundings. Tunnel behind, tunnel ahead, new tunnels to the left and right, more tunnels in more intersections ahead, main tunnel bending to the right further ahead. I took a deep breath and stepped into the first intersection, looking left, then right.

There was no one in sight. To the left there was a huge dome, separated into multiple rooms. From the label over the door, I could see that this one was the control center where the maintenance, the kitchen, the communications hub, and the lounges were.

I looked to the right and saw that even more intersections jutted off of that tunnel, and it also led to a colossal dome, possibly even larger than the one to my left, though it was hard to tell. After a moment of consideration, I decided to explore the area to my right first. I pulled my flashlight back out and turned it on, flashing it into the empty tunnel. I could see that the tunnels that led from the new intersections did not go far. On the left they were really just short tunnels that ended in enormous water tanks and on the right was the elevator shaft alongside a stairwell that led to what I was sure was the hatch that I had seen near the snowman topside. Now that I knew of a second escape method, my heart rate slowed and I took a deep breath of relief. With the water tanks on my left and the elevator and stairs on my right, I continued down the short tunnel and through the big doors into the large dome.

The dome was huge, well over 100 feet across and at least 50 feet tall, it was clear of all equipment. I knew that back in human times, when they had used these facilities to house missiles, this room had housed the generators, but no generators were present now. There were a few side rooms. One was a workshop of sorts, but beyond a workbench and some cabinets, it was clean. One was an office with a bathroom, which I was encouraged to see. There was also a boiler room, which would not do much good without generators to power them. The empty dome was no good as a hiding place, though, so I turned around and headed back past the water tanks and the elevator, through the intersection, and pulled open the door so I could enter the other dome.

The control center had many rooms inside it, though now I could see that it was slightly smaller than the other dome. First and most obviously was a large maintenance bay which covered one whole side. It had two stories, so I started on the ground level, which was where I stood.

First I saw was the kitchen. I saw a box of cereal on the counter, an icebox on the floor, and various canned foods scattering the pantry. Paper plates and plastic utensils cluttered a trash bag, and cups sat on the counter. A jug of drinking water was on the table. I flashed the light around the room and under the table, but saw no movement. After only a moments hesitation, I moved on to the bathroom. Two toothbrushes, one of which was a Disney princess themed one, were next to the sink. A big jug of water sat on the floor. Various toiletries were arranged neatly in a basket over the toilet. Two towels hung behind the door.

There was no doubt that humans lived here, but where were they?

Beyond the kitchen, dining room, and bathroom, were two more doors, both with office style windows in them. I opened the first one silently. Two pallets were laid out on the floor. One was neatly made up with a green blanket and pillow; the other was messy and unmade. A pink princess blanket covered the top, rumpled and lumpy, and a few stuffed animals were strewn about. A basket with clothes was pushed against one of the walls and a few pairs of shoes, some work boots and some for a young girl, were arranged neatly next to it. Three books sat between the beds near matches and an oil lamp that was not lit.

I entered the room and approached the beds, crouching down to inspect the books. The topmost book was  _The Little House Treasury_  by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I smiled as I inspected the plaid cover depicting a family in a covered wagon. I was just reaching over to pick it up when I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. It was miniscule, barely discernible, but I was certain it was there.

Upon more careful inspection, those lumpy princess blankets were a bit too lumpy.

Understanding dawned and I swallowed a lump in my throat. There was a tiny little human hiding under those blankets. Probably scared to death. I made my decision quickly.

As noisily as I could, I stood, crossed the room, and exited through the door, slamming it behind me. Once out, I turned off my flashlight, slid to the ground, and leaned against the wall.

What was I going to do? The tiny human was trying to hide from me, and the adult human was not around. Had he been taken by Seekers? If he had, then I was responsible for this little person. I needed to make sure that she was okay. It was clear that she knew what I was and did not trust me. Should I just go topside and wait for Jess and Rob to arrive? Jess would know what to do, and she was not an alien, so this little girl would trust her. That seemed like a good idea.

I peeked back inside the window at the dark room. I heard a shuffling in the darkness and moments later, a match lit up and the oil lamp came to life.

She was a tiny thing, probably only five or six years old, with braids hanging down her back, dressed in pink princess pajamas, clinging to a purple teddy bear. She had freckles on her nose and light colored eyes—blue or green I would guess—and her hair was almost the same color as mine, maybe a bit more strawberry blonde than red. She was adorable.

I was going to do everything in my power to make sure that she was safe and not scared, and that meant that I needed to leave her alone right now until Jess or one of the other humans came and helped me.

I took one final look at her curled in a ball, hugging her teddy bear, and then I went back toward the stairs that led to the hatch.

It would be a few hours before Jess and Rob or any of the other humans could get here, but I would wait and keep watch over this precious little girl and make sure no one harmed her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So, meet the first child of the story. Her name is Ray Anne, Rayne for short [that isn't really a spoiler since she is in the cover photo for the story (top center)] I had the WORST time writing this chapter, had it ending like 5 different ways, but hopefully this one is the best one (it works the best for the rest of the story). Do ya'll think it worked?  
> PS, Rayne has her own backstory, part of the Gone Native Collection, check it out on my profile or in the Host Category, titled Rayne


	31. Interrogation

I was freezing.

It was noon, and despite the sun shining on the snow outside, it was a measly seven degrees outside. I was shivering in my truck because I was trying to save gas, and the frigid temperatures had me intermittently rubbing my hands together, then rubbing my legs to keep them warm. I was shifting my focus constantly, sometimes looking at the icy, snow packed road that led to the clearing I was parked in, and sometimes watching the snowman and the heavy metal hatch he protected.

The hatch was lockable from the inside with heavy sliding doors and a lighter top door on springs that popped open. It was very secure, except that when I had left, there had been no way that I could see to lock it from the outside, so I had been forced to leave it unlocked, which was why I was on guard.

Seven stories below the cornfield, a little girl with blue eyes and strawberry-blonde braids was hiding, clutching a teddy bear, scared to death.

I was determined to protect her and to save her when help arrived.

I took a deep breath and exhaled, the cloud of frosty air fogging up my window, as I reflected upon the possibilities of this missile silo. We had the opportunity, if the humans who lived here let us join up with them, of helping a lot of people. We could all hide safely underground with plenty of room for all the various strong personalities to air themselves out.

The compound already had water and air filtration systems, but from the looks of things, the water tanks were empty. That would need to be rectified. There probably were not enough bathrooms, and there certainly were not enough showers. The pipes might need to be cleaned or replaced because they were really old. There were no generators, but once we fixed that, the entire compound would have power and light. The missile silos themselves, meaning the 155-foot deep, 40-foot wide areas that the missiles had been stored in the cold war, were now empty. I had no idea what shape they were in, but surely they could be used for something. Maybe we could install levels to them and create apartments for everyone to live in. There were also equipment terminals that would be perfect for the storage of food. It really was perfect, now I just had to work it out with the humans who lived here how to procure the land and fix it up.

As if on cue, I heard the crunching and creaking of a vehicle making its way over snow and ice. I turned to see a faded blue truck rolling down the lane—definitely not Jess or Rob. I tensed, my numb fingers clenching my keys, but I did not move.

The truck stopped only a few yards from mind and a man leapt out, approaching my window with confidence and determination. His agility defied his age and his weathered face was tan and wrinkled; his white hair only covered patches of his mostly bald head. He eyes were hard behind his glasses and they were totally void of any Soul silver. He appeared unarmed, so I stayed where I was, rolling down my window, hopeful for a peaceful resolution.

He stopped about a foot away from the window of my truck and growled, "Where is she?" his voice low and stern, puffing clouds of frosty air into the wind.

"In her room. Hiding and still human." I said softly.

"Put your hands where I can see them, slowly now, and leave them there. No funny business."

I did as I was told, carefully placing both my hands on the steering wheel, dropping my keys to the floorboards. I remained silent as he opened the door, checked me for weapons, removed my cell phone from my pocket, and duct taped my hands together. He pulled me out of the cab of the truck, closed the door, and guided me toward the side of the clearing that led to the second entrance to the compound through the corn.

I decided I might as well speak up.

"The hatch is unlocked. I left it unlocked when I came back up."

He gave me a searching look and then replied, "waiting for your team of aliens to come help out with the surgeries?"

"No. Waiting for my human friends to get here so they could calm down the little girl, who you left here all alone and afraid. She was terrified of me, but she won't be scared of Jess or Rob or Nate or Rachel. I'm one of you; I've gone native."

The old man raised an eyebrow and coughed as he turned me toward the hatch. This whole conversation had been remarkably calm. I had had this conversation before on numerous occasions, and none of them had gone this well. Eric had screamed at me. Rob had pulled a knife on me. Jess had pulled a gun. Rachel had cried and attempted to attack me with a frying pan. Maria had  _actually_  attacked me with a frying pan. This guy was just calmly walking alongside me, chatting with me. Granted, my hands were bound together with duct tape, but considering all the details, things were going pretty well.

He opened up the hatch and gestured for me to begin the climb down the spiral stairs that led to the compound below. After locking the hatch, he kept a hand lightly, but almost sinisterly, on my shoulder as we descended the metal grated steps. After a bit of tightly wound stair-stepping, we reached a large, heavy-duty revolving door with only enough room for one person. The human pushed me into it and said "Try to run, and I'll kill you."

I nodded and pushed the massive door, knowing from my trip up earlier that it turned very easily at the slightest touch. Once through, I was in a room about the size of an elevator. There were huge doors in front of me and I stopped, waiting obediently like I was told. I heard the human push his way through behind me and then felt his hand on my shoulder. He pushed me up to the doors and, pulling a lever on the side of the room, opened the 8-foot thick blast doors. We walked through those and stopped while the human closed the blast doors by pulling another lever. Then we began the real descent. A huge spiral staircase that wound around the freight elevator and extended seven stories lay in front of us.

Though some warm air was trapped at the top of the access port, the air got colder as we descended, and by the time we reached the bottom flight of stairs, the movement had warmed me up but each breath expelled a tiny puff of steam. We exited the portal area and entered the tunnels in absolute darkness. Apparently, the human had this place memorized. He began whistling as soon as we entered the main tunnel, and when we approached the Control Center, he started singing a song I had never heard before. It echoed through the tunnels and though his voice was deep and smooth, I was quite uncomfortable.

"Hello, Miss Fortune,

how's my old friend "Miss Misery"?

I've been away so long

I bet you thought you'd seen the last of me."

We stopped at the door as he continued singing, and I was beginning to wonder if this man was entirely sane. All of a sudden, the hallway inside the Control Center lit up and two bright blue, still completely human eyes peeked through the window. The human's entire body relaxed. He beamed, belting out the chorus.

"I got no bed to rest my head

No doors or walls or window pane"

The little girl pushed open the door, setting a lamp on the ground and bringing her teddy bear with her. She stood watching us, her freckled face calm but her eyes betraying her fear. We stayed where we were, the man singing at the top of his lungs while I watched the whole scene from beside him, bound by duct tape, which I was sure she had noticed. He pulled out a flashlight and flashed it in his own eyes. Nothing happened, no reflections danced against the walls, which was exactly his goal. His singing got louder as she smiled.

"Now all I needed was the rain

Rain, rain, rain, rain."

As soon as he stopped singing, the girl leapt into his arms. She put one tiny hand on each of his cheeks and said seriously with a hint of pride in her voice, "Sarge, that alien came down here, but I hid and he didn't find me."

He had let go of my shoulder for a second to catch her but settled her so he could hold on to her with one arm. His free hand found my shoulder again, but this time he gave my shoulder a squeeze before resting there in an unthreatening way. I understood the gesture for what it meant. Thank you.

"Did I see a snowman outside?" The man asked the girl conspiratorially.

She nodded, a slow grin spreading across her face, "I couldn't wait for you forever, Sarge," She said practically, "I had to make Alfred before Christmas and you were gone!"

"Alfred?" Sarge asked, wiggling his eyebrows at her, "What kind of name is Alfred?"

"It's a good name, and since you weren't here, you don't get to vote!" She retorted as she wiggled out of his arms. She landed smoothly on the floor and came over to where I was standing.

"Are you an alien?" She asked abruptly, even though she already knew the answer.

"Yes, but I'm a nice alien." I replied.

In a move nearly identical to Sarge, one of her eyebrows rose at that statement. She looked to Sarge for confirmation, but Sarge avoided the topic entirely.

"Let's go into the maintenance bay. I have something I need you to do for me, Rayne, do you think you can handle that?"

Rayne stood a little straighter at his question and answered solemnly, "Yes Sir."

We all entered the dome that contained the Control Center and then entered the maintenance bay which filled half of the dome. It was large and cold and empty. Several poles held up a catwalk that covered the second level. We walked over to one of the support beams and Sarge pushed me up against it. The roll of duct tape appeared from inside his coat and he began to wind it around me and the pole. I did not resist, mostly because he had not shown any intention of hurting me so far and I knew that Rob would be coming as soon as Eric got the email I sent. Once I was secure, he wound the tape around my ankles and finally, he put a small piece across my mouth.

When he was finished, he turned to Rayne and looked her straight in the eye, "I'm going up top to get the supplies unloaded and hide the truck, then I'll be back. I want you to watch him. He can't go anywhere, I've got him all taped up, but if he does anything to scare or hurt you, or if it looks like he's trying to escape, you can shoot him, okay?" He patted her on the head before handing her a pistol that I had not even known he had had on him. He turned to walk out of the room without another word.

Rayne watched him leave and then turned to look at me. Her blue eyes were very serious as she said, "It's cold in here. I'm a good shot, so if you try to leave while I'm gone, I'll get you before you get out the door."

With that, she turned and scampered from the room. I watched her in amazement, and was still staring at the door when she came back through it minutes later bundled in her Disney Princess quilt and dragging the green quilt from Sarge's bed along behind her. She dropped both quilts on the floor and then held the gun out, pointing it toward the floor.

"I brought this quilt for you, but I'm only giving it to you if you agree to answer my questions and not tell Sarge."

I was cold, certainly, but in a torture situation, a blanket would not convince me to give up information. I was tougher than that. However, this was not a torture situation and this little girl was extending me a measure of kindness and trust in her own way. I would be a fool to refuse her childish interrogation. I nodded my head.

She approached me warily, the quilt in one hand and the gun in the other. She clumsily packed the heavy blanket around me, unable to get it very close due to the tape and the pole and the fact that she was performing the act one-handed, but she was doing her best. Once she was finished, she gave me a stern look and then started to pull off the strip of duct tape that covered my mouth. Apparently unaware of the old adage, "rip it off like a band-aid," she was painstakingly slow as she eased it off, millimeter by millimeter. After an agonizing minute it was off and I gulped in a huge breath, only to cough violently as too much dusty air hit my lungs at once.

I got control of myself, shaking tears out of my eyes, and looked to Rayne who was bundled back up in her own quilt, the tip of the gun peeking out from where her right hand sat. She had it pointed at the ground again, and I said my prayers to every god I had ever heard of that the safety was on.

She was staring at me in silence and I wondered if I was supposed to start off this little interrogation. Might as well.

"My name is Burns Living Flowers, but you can call me Burns for short. I am a type of alien called a Soul. They call us Souls because, like a soul of a human is the unseen living force inside a body, we take over living bodies, unseen, and become the living force inside of them. If I didn't live inside of my host Stephen, I would look like a little silver worm or centipede." I stopped there, hoping I had said the right thing.

"Why did you come here? Don't you have a planet of your own?" Her question was a bit high pitched and accusatory, but I made sure my answer was as kind as possible. From the looks of things, it was just her and Sarge, which meant that her mom and dad were now more like Stephen, my host who only moved and thought because I told him to.

"I came here because I was sent here. The Souls do have their own planet. We call it The Origin. I've never been there because the Souls also live on lots of other planets. Before I came here, I was on The Fire Planet, and I did not like it much. When the Souls found that out, they did something I did not expect. I went to sleep there, and then I woke up here. They had taken me away from Fire Planet and sent me here. I woke up in this body, and now I try to help my best friend Nate rescue humans."

"I used to have a best friend." Rayne said sadly, "Now she's an alien."

"I'm sorry." I said, and I meant it.

"Why do your eyes have silver in them?" She asked, getting back to business.

"Well, remember when I said that I would look like a silver centipede if I was outside my host Stephen's head? Well, some of the centipede legs reach into Stephen's brain, and some of them reach all the way into his eyes so that I can see. That's what the silver is."

Rayne nodded as she contemplated this for a moment. "Can you leave? Could someone take you out of Stephen?"

It was the question I had been praying that no one would ever ask me, and here a child with a gun had, probably hoping that I could go take the aliens out of her parents. I sighed, opting for honesty, "Yes. Someone could take me out of Stephen and send me somewhere else, but it is something that only certain individuals know how to do and it would not do Stephen any good. Stephen's soul left when I came, so he would never wake up." I said it as gently as I could, but her face still fell. Amazingly, she did not cry.

We sat in silence for a moment while she mulled over my answer and I pondered my half-truth. All Souls knew how to do an excision, so the "certain individuals" that I was referring to included the entire alien population, but Rayne would never know that.

She interrupted my thoughts with her next question, "Are there a lot of aliens like you? Ones that are nice to humans?"

"Not that I'm aware of. In fact, I'm the only one that I know of." I said. I highly doubted any other Soul would betray our species.

"Oh." Her tiny shoulders visibly drooped beneath the quilt that enveloped her frame, and I searched for a happier topic.

"My friends are human though, and they're very nice. Their names are Nate, Rob, Jess, and Rachel. They might come visit you here and say hi, would you like that?"

Rayne looked up hopefully, "They're human? Do any of them have kids?"

"Yes, they're human, but no, none of them have kids. At least not yet. But Nate is kind of like a kid, so he would play with you." I made the promise without remorse; Nate was nearly back to full strength and he needed a distraction. A little girl to entertain was the perfect solution.

"Could he build me a swing?" Rayne asked, this time with a little bit of light in her eyes.

"I'm sure he could. His dad was in construction and he's very handy with tools." I smiled at her and she smiled back. I could tell that Rayne and I were going to be buds, I just needed to do a little bit more convincing. "I liked your snowman Alfred by the way, he was very well made and had a snappy grin."

She beamed, "I snuck out last night and made him while Sarge was gone!" I chuckled, she must be a handful for Sarge to manage on his own. "He doesn't let me go on raids anymore since he had to kill the aliens that tried to take me away, and I couldn't sleep, so I made Alfred and then I came down here and slept and then when I woke up, you were here and I hid from you and you didn't find me and then Sarge found you, but he didn't kill you, and now you're here." She heaved in a breath at the end of her speech and I gazed at her compassionately, unsure of what to say. The poor thing had been through a lot. I decided to go with a question of my own.

"Is Sarge your grandfather?"

"No. He's my neighbor. He was supposed to pick me up from swimming practice and take me home, but instead he pulled me out of the pool and we drove all night to Colorado. My mom and dad are aliens now."

I had suspected the part about her parents, but not that she and Sarge were not related. They seemed so close. "Do you feel safe with Sarge?"

"Yes." She said emphatically, nodding her head, "he taught me how to survive and shoot and do laundry. He tried to teach me how to cook, but I'm already better at it than him." I chuckled.

"I'm not a very good cook either. We have a human who lives with us named Eric. He's very grumpy but he is a very good cook."

"Can he make mac and cheese?" She asked quickly, her heart in her eyes.

"The very best you've ever tasted." I answered, even though I had never seen Eric make macaroni and cheese, I was certain that he could and he would for this darling child if I had anything to say about it.

"I love mac and cheese. Do any other humans live with you?" Rayne quirked her head to the side, awaiting my answer.

"Well, Eric cooks and he likes computers a lot. Jess does the laundry and takes care of us. She has a dog named Cole and he is really cool."

"You have a dog?" Rayne exclaimed, coming to her knees. "I want a dog!"

"Yes, well, Jess has a dog. He's her dog. He's nice, to most people. Nate, who is my best friend and is really funny, will do anything to get Cole to like him, but Cole only likes him when Nate gives him treats. Anyway, I also live with a guy named Rob, who used to be in the military, so he keeps everybody and everything running smoothly. Rachel is really smart and she can speak Spanish, and… also, Maria, who is Rachel's mom." I could not think of anything nice to say about Maria, so I just left it at that.

"Sarge used to be in the army." Rayne said knowingly, looking at me in understanding, "he likes to give orders to people."

I pressed the fingernails of one of my clasped hands into the other to keep myself from smiling and managed a serious reply, "Was he a drill sergeant?"

Rayne shrugged, "I don't know, he just is always saying, 'Go to bed. Brush your teeth. Eat your vegetables.' It's annoying." Her voice had gotten deep and grouchy in an imitation of Sarge's, and I found myself swallowing a smile for a second time in under a minute.

"That sounds annoying." I said in commiseration.

Rayne shivered and my heart wrung with compassion for her. "Are you cold, Rayne?"

"It's always cold down here." She shrugged.

I vowed to take these two back to Boulder with me as soon as possible. Rayne needed a warm bath. And a big bowl of macaroni and cheese. And books to read. And movies to watch. And a swing set. And toys to play with. And women like Jess and Rachel to be around.

I was going to make this happen. Somehow.

Rayne and I both turned our heads toward the tunnel entrance when we heard footsteps echoing in the distance. As if by silent agreement, we both stopped talking and waited for Sarge to show up.

When he entered the room, he had a strange expression on his face. He walked right up to me, and without making any comment about my mouth being free of duct tape, addressed me hesitantly: "Burns?"

My eyes widened in surprised and I stuttered, "Y-yes! How did you know? Are Jess and Rob here? Did Nate or Rachel come?"

"No, they're not here. At least not yet. They're coming."

"They're coming?" I asked.  _How does he know that?_

He pulled out my cell phone and spent a few seconds pressing buttons on it. Suddenly I heard Rob's voice coming out of it. I started, wondering how he had gotten a signal this far underground, when I realized that he was not calling Rob, he was playing the video that we had recorded a few weeks earlier when we had rescued Maria and Rachel. His voice played over the speaker,

"I'm still human. I found other humans and they are going to help me rescue you. The thing is, this group of humans that I found, well, they've got a spy, sorta. His name is Burns and he is one of them, but he's gone native, I mean, he does everything he can to rescue humans. He saved my life and the lives of all the humans here. You can trust him. So this is Burns and he is a part of this group of humans and I need you to trust him and go with him because he can get you out of there. The silver-eyed people, they're called Souls by the way, trust him because he is one of them, but he is really on our side."

Sarge clicked off the video and looked at me with piercing eyes, "Is Rob still human? Is he still safe?"

"He was when I left this morning." I said honestly, "I haven't talked to them since. I couldn't get any reception. I sent them an email telling them where I was."

Sarge nodded, reaching over to relieve Rayne of the pistol, safely holstering it beneath his coat. He then unsheathed a knife from his boot and approached me. I flinched back, but he put a calming hand on my shoulder and reached behind me to swipe the knife down the side of the pole to release the tape. Within moments, with great assistance from Sarge and Rayne, I was free, hands and feet included. Sarge made no attempt to restrain me in any way and I could not help but be amazed at this bizarre turn of events.

"So…" I trailed off, "You said they were on their way?"

"Yeah. There's an antenna silo at the end of the tunnel that has perfect reception as long as you stand right inside it. I called Rob and talked to him. I used to be his commanding officer back when I was in the service. Rob and your friends Nate and Jess'll be here in an hour and a half."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song that Sarge sings for Rayne is "All I Needed Was the Rain" by Elvis Presley with a bit of artistic license taken in the lyrics.


	32. Combination

Rayne was giving me a tour of the compound. She had changed out of her princess pajamas and into sturdy jeans and a pink winter coat. Her purple teddy bear, whose name I had learned was Rainbow, was accompanying us, as was Sarge.

Rayne skipped ahead while Sarge and I hung back. I was unsure just how much Sarge trusted me, so I did not want to take any chances. I knew that his pistol was still underneath his coat. We started on the main floor of the Control Center, which I had already explored, but I allowed Rayne to show it to me through her eyes. Since we were in the maintenance area, she went ahead and explained that to me first.

"This is the main tennis area." She started out, "where people play games. Someday, when I have friends, we're going to play games in here. With swings."

I sent a smile Sarge's way and was saddened to see how wistful he was. He was doing his best for Rayne, but he clearly wanted to do more.

We exited the maintenance area, or main tennis area, whichever you preferred, and headed toward the hallway where the kitchen and dining areas were, along with the sleeping quarters.

The kitchen was large, with room for professional grade equipment, but it had been mostly emptied except for the counters and a table. Evidence of Sarge and Rayne were everywhere, but Rayne had more to say on the subject.

"This is the kitchen, where we try to cook. But mostly we eat cereal. And sandwiches. And canned food. Cause Sarge can't cook and I'm not allowed to use the stove."

I looked around for the stove she spoke of, but saw it nowhere. Sarge explained the reason, "That's because it's a propane stove and it's too dangerous for you to use by yourself."

Rayne pressed her lips together but said nothing more. We moved out of the kitchen and into the dining room which I had initially missed in my inspection of this floor. It was also large—large enough to feed a couple dozen people, and was very simple. It had tables and chairs but they were in disrepair.

"This is the cafeteria." Rayne said dismissively, "I like to pretend the floor is lava and jump from table to table and chair to chair. Other than that, we don't come in here."

We left it and moved on to the bathroom. It was small, containing a sink, toilet, and shower, but it was sufficient for all hygiene needs. It looked as though it did not have working water right now, or perhaps it was just not potable.

Rayne only had one thing to say about the bathroom: "There isn't a bathtub."

With that, we moved onto the bedroom that she shared with Sarge.

"I usually sleep in the room next door." She said, "but when I have nightmares Sarge lets me come in here. And when he's gone, I like to sleep in here."

I nodded and we moved on to the next room. It was set up as a bedroom, and somehow Sarge had gotten a mattress down here. The bed was made with pink and purple bedding and a cardboard box was next to it as a bedside table.

The room itself was astonishingly cheery and bright. Rayne had drawn on the walls with sidewalk chalk, doing her best to remember her world before the invasion and this compound. The ceiling was blue and a sun covered one corner, and one whole wall was a field of wildflowers drawn in every color she owned. Her parents, her old house, and her friends back home covered the other walls.

In one of the corners of the room, some cleverly constructed corn husk dolls were seated around a crudely made doll-sized table, and rocks and acorn tops served as tea and biscuits.

A homemade puzzle made out of a large piece of cardboard, colored and cut out was scattered on the floor, and drawings and markers cluttered the space near the bed.

Rayne was clever and used her imagination to pass the time, but my heart clenched in agony at the sight of how lonely she was and how much she missed her home.

You cannot buy happiness they say, but a little extra money and supplies sure do not hurt.

Christmas was in two days. I suddenly had a lot of shopping to do.

I smiled to myself as Rayne pointed to all of her toys and drawings proudly, naming each doll "Misty," "Sunny," and "Stormy"

We left the room in just as soon as she was done explaining her drawings, and continued on upstairs. The first room we came to was locked. Sarge pulled a key from his pocket and once the door opened, it revealed the armory, which was really just a large closet. Rayne and Sarge both walked into the room like it was nothing, but the sheer number of weapons, at least twenty guns, had me shell-shocked at the door. I waited there while they proudly showed off their favorites, a grimace plastered on my face. Rayne was especially proud of her .22 pistol.

"This is my .22, see? It's the first gun Daddy ever let me shoot and the one that Sarge gave me when we got here. I'm really good at it."

I managed to smile and nod, but my pulse was quick and sweat was beading across my forehead. I really hoped that all those guns were not loaded.

Next was the hospital. It was a huge room that had a full bathroom and shower facility attached to it and room for multiple beds. Rayne was uninterested in this room and simply opened the door and then shut it once I looked.

The last two rooms were nearly identical. One was meant for communications with the outside world and had ancient technology in it, the other was meant for controlling the technology inside the compound itself, and also had antique devices. Both would be Eric's territory and I was sure he would have them completely made over within a week's time.

"I like to play with all the buttons in here. They don't turn on cause the power doesn't work, but I can pretend I'm in a spaceship or something." Rayne said. She was right, all the buttons did look like what the human spaceships looked like from what I had seen in pictures.

"That's it." Rayne announced. "There is no more in here. Do you wanna see the rest of it?"

I looked to Sarge for permission before I answered. He did not seem to care either way so I said, "Sure!"

We left the Control Center and walked straight across the main tunnel into the other dome, the Power House. It was empty and huge and Rayne was uninterested in it.

"This is where they keep the generators. But we can't find one and if we did find one, we couldn't get it here, so we have to live without power."

I knew there to be several side rooms, but Rayne skipped those as she turned around and walked out of the room, Sarge and I at her heels. I gave Sarge a questioning look and he shrugged.

"She's right. I can't find a generator that will work for our needs and any that I know about are too big to get in here without being seen or without powering up the elevator, which won't work without a generator. I hate that we are using propane and oil for everything, but at this point, it's all we can do."

I nodded and determined to search for other energy solutions. I was sure that the Souls had other options, particularly the ones that powered the shuttles that we used to travel in space.

We left the Power House and walked back to the main tunnel, passing the enormous water storage tank and the elevator and stair portal on our way.

"Do those water tanks have water in them?" I asked Sarge.

"Yes, but it has been in there for a few decades and is disgusting. It needs to be cleaned out or replaced entirely, and so do the pipes if we want to use them for anything practical. We use the water in the toilet, but that's it. I bring water in for drinking, bathing, and brushing our teeth. The tanks are 33,000 gallons a piece though."

I had suspected as much, but it was disheartening to hear. This place needed a lot of work before it would be suitable for human occupation.

"I know that you don't completely trust me yet, but once you meet Rob and Nate and Jess and see that I'm not lying, would you be willing to come back to my place for a while to rest up and recharge while we make a plan? If you're willing, we'd really like to work something out with you where we fix this place up and use it as a base for our human rescue mission." I said this while looking straight ahead, but after I finished, I gave Sarge a sidelong glance, hopeful that he would be receptive.

He was silent for a long moment before responding, wording his reply carefully.

"We'll just wait and see how things go when Rob gets here. I need to think about what is best for Rayne."

That was really the best I could have hoped for. I smiled and nodded at Sarge. I hoped he understood that I understood.

We moved down the tunnel toward the end of the complex that I had not seen yet. It went for a few hundred feet before three more tunnels separated off of the main one.

"These are all the same." Rayne pointed at the tunnels, "So we only have to look at one, which is good, cause they're all creepy."

The first silo took my breath away. It was enormous. Sarge took over the tour at this point as Rayne had gone silent.

"These things are 40 feet across and 155 feet deep. The bottoms have some water in them though, so that is a concern. I thought about converting the space into a bunch of levels like the equipment terminal, but that is just too much effort for right now. Maybe someday."

I nodded in understanding, fixing up these huge silos would be a lot of work.

We left the silos and walked to the adjoining equipment terminals. The pure perfection of these terminals gave me hope—they could easily be converted into apartments.

"These things have four levels and are about 60 feet deep and 40 feet across. You can see that if we ever moved more people in here, they'd make ideal apartments as you can access all four levels, they're not filled with water, and each level is spacious." Sarge said.

He was right. The equipment terminals were basically already built like apartments. There were four levels in this one, and two more exactly like it.

"This is fantastic!" I exclaimed, "these are perfectly situated for apartment style living. If only there was a bathroom down this way! And there are three of them, so that's twelve total apartments! Everyone could have their own!"

Of everything I had seen today, those equipment terminals gave me the most hope. This place was going to work for us; I just knew it.

Rayne turned to me at this point and made a face, "I wouldn't want to sleep here! This place is creepy!"

I smiled fondly at her. I had a feeling that whatever this little princess wanted, she was going to get, "I think you could probably stay in the room you're in Rayne."

My tour done, we headed back to the Control Center to sit and wait for Rob. About 45 minutes later Sarge motioned for me to get up and the two of us went up the stair to the access hatch.

"Rayne, we're going upstairs to meet Burns' friends. You know the signal, if I make it, you run far away and hide, okay?"

Rayne nodded and clutched her teddy bear.

I was curious as to what their signal was, but did not pry. Sarge and I climbed all seven flights of stairs to get to the top and pushed open the hatch. We did not have to wait long. Rob, Jess, and Nate piled out of Jess's old pickup and approached us with smiles on their faces.

"Sarge!" Rob exclaimed, giving the man a huge bear hug, "Boy am I glad to see you!"

Sarge returned the embrace and after pulling away, gave Rob, Jess, and Nate all searching looks. Finding that they were indeed human, he smiled broadly and said, "Welcome to your new home!"

"Awesome!" exclaimed Nate, I could tell that he wanted a tour right away. Rob seemed to want a tour too.

"Jess, wait until you meet Rayne, you're going to love her, she's adorable." I said.

"Rayne?"

"Yeah, she's an eight-year-old orphan that Sarge has been taking care of. She's downstairs"

Rob sent a questioning look Sarge's way to which Sarge explained, "She was the daughter of my neighbors in Montana. As soon as I found out what had happened, I tried to get her parents before they were taken, but I didn't succeed. I managed to get her, though, and we've been roughing it ever since. She's a smart girl, but I'm so glad that she'll have some women to help take care of her now, I just don't know that much about little girls."

I smiled to myself, a plan already forming in my head. It seemed I suddenly had a lot of Christmas shopping to do, themed around pretty pink princesses.

Yes, having a little girl around was going to be fun.


	33. Celebration

I pulled into the driveway after Rob, sliding into the garage next to him. Out of my truck tumbled Rayne and Jess who were already fast friends. Beside us, Nate, Rob, and Sarge looked on with smiles. Our little group felt a little more like a family with a little girl around.

I had spent the ride quizzing Rayne on what she wanted for Christmas and she was as relaxed as a cat, smiling as she animatedly described what she wanted. There was no hint of expectation in her voice, just a wistful tone as she mentioned wanting her parents and friends back in addition to toys. She hung close to Jess and Sarge as we approached the door leading into the house.

"Welcome home," I said, "I hope you'll be comfortable here."

Sarge gave me an answering smile and replied, "Thank you, I'm sure we will be."

"Well, let's go meet everyone else!" Nate exclaimed, grabbing Rayne and throwing her up into the air. She shrieked with laughter as he caught her and tickled her under her chin. We all trooped inside to where Rachel and Eric were working silently on dinner, Cole standing close by hoping for treats. Our entrance interrupted him and with an excited woof! He bounded toward Jess to welcome her home. Rayne sighed with happiness when he came to sniff her next, reaching out to rub his ears.

"Hello puppy!" she greeted him, looking up at Jess with a smile.

Eric had prepared a feast and thanks to a phone call I had made on the way, one of the dishes was homemade macaroni and cheese. Rayne looked on with big eyes as Rachel stopped what she was doing and approached her.

"Welcome, I'm Rachel. This is Eric. It's so nice to meet both of you," she said kindly, gesturing to where Eric stood in the kitchen, a grumpy expression on his face. Rachel gave Rayne a special smile, "Dinner will be ready in just a few minutes, why don't you guys have a seat in the living room and chat."

"Do we have time for a quick tour?" Rob asked. Rachel nodded in reply. With a smile he stole Rayne out of Nate's arms and motioned for Sarge to follow him. Cole went too, and the three of them were giggling as he almost knocked her over in his excitement.

On the first floor Rob showed them the two bedrooms, mine and Eric's, and then he took them downstairs. Showing them the two dorm-style rooms with the common room and the bathroom took less than five minutes. Soon they were all climbing back up the stairs. Jess had set the table while they were gone and we all sat down around my kitchen table, squeezing to make room for everyone. Maria had yet to make an appearance, but I could hear her grumbling in the basement.

Eric had been strangely quiet during our whole interchange. When he started filling the table with food he placed the huge bowl of macaroni right in front of Rayne. She enthusiastically thanked him and grabbed the spoon to dish herself up without waiting for anyone else.

"Rayne…" Sarge hinted softly, "Wait for everyone else to be seated."

She reluctantly put the spoon back in the bowl and sat on her hands, staring longingly at the pasta in front of her. Rachel and Eric finished delivering the food to the table and got seated. Rayne shot a glance at Sarge who gave her a slight nod before she dug once again into the delicious looking cheese dish in front of her.

The conversation flowed around her as she inhaled the food, stopping only long enough to take occasional sips of milk. Every adult at the table, even Eric, watched her with amusement as she zoned totally into the cheesy goodness in front of her and ignored the rest of us.

"I was thinking I might go out for um, supplies, tonight." I said, indicating with a smile toward Rayne. "That way we could have a good Christmas."

Sarge knew about my plan and he nodded in agreement, "that would be great."

"Can I come?" Jess and Rachel asked in unison. Everyone laughed, understanding only too well how much both of them wanted to get out of the house and do something interesting.

"Sure, I think we can hide your eyes enough that no one suspects. As long as you're with me no one should ask questions." I said easily. Normally I might have been more cautious, but it was Christmas and I was excited.

After dinner Nate poked Rayne in the shoulder and leaned in close, "Wanna go play video games?" he asked in a mock whisper, wiggling his eyebrows. She giggled and followed Nate into the living room where my old systems were hooked up. Rob and Sarge wandered after them, taking seats on the couch, Sarge reaching for the newspaper while Rob grabbed a book. Eric retreated into his lair without a word to the rest of us, working on whatever it was that kept him so busy. Jess and I quickly cleaned the kitchen as Rachel took a plate of food to Maria. Within fifteen minutes the kitchen was clean and Jess and Rachel were ready to leave with me, sunglasses in place.

We ventured out onto the interstate, going straight to Toys'R'Us. The place was packed—apparently even Souls left some of their Christmas shopping to the last minute. Rachel stiffened when she saw how crowded it was, but Jess put a hand on her shoulder and gently propelled her into the craziness. Both of them relaxed once they realized that no one was paying them any special attention. I saw an aisle decked out in pink and headed straight for it. It was the land of baby dolls and Barbie's, and I knew that we were going to have problems keeping the number of purchases down. There was just so much that Rayne would like!

Rachel went straight for a baby doll that cried, slept, and ate. She smoothed the hair down and turned to Jess with a smile. "This will be perfect."

Jess almost jumped for joy as she said "Yes!" and then she began pulling clothing off the shelves and throwing it in the cart. Within two minutes we had a bassinet, eight changes of clothing, a bottle, diapers, two blankets, and a stroller. I steered them out of the aisle and we moved into the arts and crafts section. A knitting kit, a bedazzler, a jewelry making kit, and a stack of coloring books were added. We grabbed paint, markers, crayons, and colored pencils and a huge pad of paper. Our cart was full and we had only been there ten minutes! I laughed as I added a miniature guitar, a yoyo, and a harmonica.

Rayne was going to love this.

"I think we need to restrain ourselves." I commented, surveying our treasures, "otherwise we won't have anything to buy for her for her birthday."

"Well, Rayne isn't the only one who would like toys for Christmas." Jess stated dryly. She was right, Nate would love some of this stuff.

Jess snuck an origami kit into the cart behind Rachel's back and Rachel hid another sketch pad and set of very nice colored pencils under her coat, winking at me as she did it. We moved into the games and puzzle section and loaded in some board games and puzzles where I grabbed a really hard looking one, hoping Eric liked puzzles.

Then we angled the cart in the direction of the video games. A brand new Nintendo system was put into a second cart that we had grabbed on the way, and Jess and Rachel added nearly every game on the shelves along with all the accessories. In the little boy's section we found paper airplane kits and jacks and little cars. A football, baseball, two gloves, bat, and volleyball found their way into the cart too.

I got distracted when I looked at the playhouses. Once we moved into the silo, I was determined to make Rayne a swing set with a slide. And she would want a bike; the silo was big enough to ride in.

I looked at our two carts and broke into a laugh, "I think we better go before we empty the store of every toy they have."

Rachel and Jess paused to survey the cart and both of them broke into giggles, "You're probably right." Jess said, "Let's get wrapping paper and then go home.

We headed to the area of the store that had the bags and wrapping paper and loaded up on all of the supplies and then turned toward the checkout. It took them fifteen minutes to ring us up, but after they had collected the inventory, they printed out a receipt for their records and wished us "Happy Holidays."

All three of us replied in kind, and we took the purchases out to the truck. The ride home was filled with Christmas music and stories from our childhoods, and when we arrived at home, I went in to distract the others while Jess and Rachel hid the gifts in the garage. We all plopped on the couch with smiles on our faces to watch Rayne and Nate as they played their videogames. Sarge raised one eyebrow in question and I just smiled back. Let him be as surprised as Rayne on Christmas morning.

The next day was Christmas Eve Day and I made a trip to the grocery store early in the morning to fill the list that Eric had given me. On my way home I saw a Christmas tree lot and added a huge one to the bed of my truck. I returned home with the goodies to find Jess, Rachel, and Rayne covered in flour making cookies. Eric got started on dinner right away and soon the house smelled of Christmas Dinner, nutmeg, and cider. Rob and Sarge were in the middle of an intense game of chess while Nate and the girls began to decorate the tree with strings of cranberries and popcorn along with some lights and ornaments that Nate had found downstairs.

I sequestered myself in the garage to wrap presents, setting aside the guitar for Rob, the harmonica for Sarge, the sketchpad and pencils for Jess, the origami set for Rachel, the Nintendo for Nate, and one of the puzzles for Eric. Rachel provided me with a hat and scarf set for her mother, saying she had knit them in her free time. When I was done with the presents for everyone, including a huge stack of them for Rayne, I called everyone into the garage to help me haul them inside to put them under the tree. Maria even made an appearance, acting the nicest I'd ever seen her, as we all gazed at the beautiful tree in awe.

In a low, gravely voice Sarge began to recite "The Night Before Christmas" and one by one we left the room to head to bed.

Tomorrow was Christmas, and surprisingly, it looked like it was going to be a good one. Our new family was safe and warm, and in a situation where we were all fighting for our lives, we had found a way to keep the spirit of Christmas warm in our hearts.

**End: Part 1**


	34. Fabrication

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place six weeks after Christmas and sets the stage for the storylines that we will be exploring in the next section of this story. I've missed you all, thanks for reading and reviewing!

**Beginning: Part 2**

It had only been six weeks since Sarge and Rayne had joined our family, but in that time, things in the house had changed completely. Rayne had every single adult, Maria and Eric included, wrapped around her tiny finger. She had a healthy glow to her cheeks and a sparkle in her eyes.

Eric started adding new things to my shopping list that we had never gotten before: dinosaur chicken nuggets, popsicles, pudding, fruit snacks in the shape of Disney characters, and of course, mac and cheese. He continued to create extravagant meals for the adults, but always made sure there was child-friendly food on the table too. The Souls had created vitamins and supplements that corrected malnutrition, so Eric saw no reason to make Rayne eat vegetables if she did not want to. Sarge was not very pleased with this idea, but he allowed it, as long as Rayne ate her vitamins too.

Maria had finally settled in to the group, and it was entirely because of Rayne. I am not sure if it was because she felt like she could trust Rayne's childlike innocence or if she felt like Rayne needed the protection, but the two of them had formed a strong bond. Rayne called Maria "Abuela," and Maria called her "Nieta." Rayne was already picking up on the strange combination of Spanish and English that Rachel, Rob, and Maria used and constantly surprised us with her understanding of the language. Maria still gave me the cold shoulder, but was no longer openly hostile, nor was she trying to escape.

Given the circumstances, Rayne was flourishing, and because all the adults bent to her every whim, we were getting along better too. She gave us purpose; we were all determined that Rayne would survive and carry on the human race, and with a common goal, the family functioned much better. It was February, and even though we were all crammed in one tiny house, things were better than ever. Rob, Sarge, and Nate spent their days at the silo, working to make some parts of it inhabitable so that we could move in as quickly as possible. As I had suspected, the tiny but powerful generators that supplied power to the Soul spaceships were more than adequate for our needs in the silo. Eric jerry-rigged the components to work with human technology, and presto! We had power.

I played many characters these days, posing as a pilot, a plumber, a chef, a construction worker, a dry waller, and a sanitation engineer, all to get the supplies we needed to make the silo habitable. The kitchen and bathrooms, along with electricity and heat were our first priorities, and we were making good progress. The professional grade kitchen equipment that I managed to get was all waiting in the kitchen, ready to be installed. The plumbing problem had been resolved much more simply than we had anticipated. The rusty pipes that we thought would need replacing and the huge 33,000 gallon water tanks were both easy to fix once we found the right equipment. I met a Soul plumber while I was investigating new pipes, and he pointed me right toward a cleaning solution that purified even the most disgusting water and another one that cleaned the pipes of rust and whatever other slimy stuff lived in there. Of course, we had needed far more of it than what was available in the hardware store, so I had used my maintenance position at the University to order it in large quantities.

With potable water and the electricity working, Eric agreed to come over and figure out what he would need to overhaul the silo's security system and internal control center. It turned out that installing electrical outlets in every room so we could plug space heaters in was a better option than figuring out how to heat the whole concrete complex. We ran miles of wire through the tunnels, and between Eric's genius and Nate's construction experience, we managed to get outlets in every room we planned to use.

While Rob, Nate, and Sarge investigated installing more showers and bathrooms and updating the ones that were already present, Eric got to work on both control rooms. The list of supplies he handed me was four pages long and I only understood the words "and" and "the." I had no idea how I was going to get so much equipment for him.

We ended up ordering it under many different names, little bits at a time, and had all of it delivered to the University where I was still working, maintaining my charade. A few more weeks and Eric would have everything he needed.

Meanwhile, my special project, a complete playground containing a slide, two swings, a treehouse-type-thing, and monkey bars was coming together nicely. I had used the maintenance bay, or main tennis area, for the playground, and had even hauled in recycled tire pieces for the floor. I put it together over the weekends when I had the time, so it took longer than anything else, but I was quite excited to see Rayne's face when she got to see it for the first time.

While the men were away working on the silo, the women were at home, playing house and dress-up with Rayne. They taught her to do things that Sarge had not like braiding hair, walking in heels (during dress-up), and knitting scarves. Maria taught her how to make salsa, and Jess gave her art lessons. Rachel taught her how to slow dance, but Rayne had no patience for the waltz and I walked in on more than one silly dance party. Occasionally on the nice days, the girls piled into Jess's truck and drove out into the country where no one would bother them. They'd picnic in the toasty cab of the tuck and then hop outside into the snow and play with Cole and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine.

Life had developed a rhythm, and we were all getting more comfortable. Lowering our guard. Believing that our plan would work and we would all survive this without any more loss.

I came home from work on a Friday night, my plans already set to go to the silo the next day to work on Rayne's playset. When I walked in the door, I noticed an abnormal amount of pink and red covering the upstairs. Hearts and doilies. My human brain pulled out images of elementary school parties, cards, and candy hearts. It was Valentine's Day; I had completely forgotten.

Rayne rushed right up to me and shoved a card in my hand while giving my waist a hug.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" she exclaimed, giving me a happy smile.

"Happy Valentine's Day Rayne!" I replied just as enthusiastically. "Are we having a party?"

"Yes!" Rayne jumped with excitement, pulling my arm to lead me toward the living room. There were plates of cookies waiting to be decorated and every member of the family had a homemade mailbox with their name on it. I glanced at the card and saw that it was covered in glitter, hearts, and stickers. It simply read "Happy Valentine's Day Burns" on the front, and when I opened it, it said "Do aliens celebrate Valentine's Day?"

I laughed and nodded at Rayne. "Yes, we celebrate anything that you celebrate."

Rayne looked pleased and said " Good!" before pulling me down to sit beside her on the sofa.

"The boys are coming home early today." Jess explained as she walked into the living room holding a pitcher of punch. She was wearing a beautiful pink dress, and I lost my train of thought for a moment. Jess never wore anything but sweatpants and t-shirts. The change was breathtaking. "Rayne really wanted to celebrate Valentine's Day."

I recovered my composure and nodded in understanding. I looked at Rayne for instruction. She shoved colored paper, stickers, and markers in front of me and commanded me to make cards for everyone.

"I want a pink one." She instructed.

I laughed to myself and sorted through the supplies, finding some pink paper and a purple marker. Not much of an artist, I managed a few hearts and then wrote "Happy Valentine's Day Rayne!" in big, bold letters. Then, without really thinking about it, I wrote "I love you," on the inside of the card. I handed the completed card to Rayne and she put it into her mailbox without looking at it.

"Now do one for Rob." She said. Jess and I laughed as I tried to make a masculine looking card for Rob. I did not write Happy Valentine's Day and I definitely did not mention love, but Rayne seemed pleased with the effort anyway. This continued with every member of the family, and as I completed the cards, Rayne delivered them to the appropriate mailbox.

Between making the card for Sarge and the card for Rachel, the others arrived and were put to work making cards as well. Rob spent a lot more time on one card than the others, and when he handed it to Rachel, he watched her face intently as she read the message. It was a simple, "will you be my Valentine?" but Rachel apparently inferred no meaning from it, and gave Rob a generic smile as she placed it with the rest of her cards. His face told of his disappointment, but he hid it quickly. Sarge glanced between the two and shook his head. Nate did all of his as quickly as he could, covering them in stickers, then he turned to Rayne and said, "Now can I have my cookie?"

She laughed and handed him an unfrosted sugar cookie. He ate it in one bite and then grabbed her for a tickle war.

Rayne's laughing shrieks were loud, and everyone was smiling, enjoying the pleasure that a simple holiday could bring.

None of us heard the knock at the door. When the doorbell rang, though, we all froze.

Nate hauled Rayne into his arms and bolted for my bedroom, which was the only room in the house with away-from-street-view window access. Rob, Eric, Rachel, Jess, and Maria followed, silently and quickly. Sarge pulled his pistol from his holster and crept down the stairs, and Cole positioned himself at the bedroom door entrance, making it clear that whoever went in there would have to go through him first.

We had practiced this situation. Everyone was doing their jobs, now I had to do mine.

I walked slowly up to the door, breathing deeply and trying to calm my racing heart. I reached for the latch and tensely opened the door, trying to use my body to shield the mess in the living room from view.

It was a blonde woman, plump and dressed in a horrendous red and pink dress, smiling and holding a plate of cookies. I relaxed a little, but remained in position, not allowing her to see inside.

"Hello!" She exclaimed in a high pitched voice, " I'm Weaver and my partner is Spinner. We're the new neighbors across the street! We just arrived from the planet of the spiders, and we are so impressed with Earth so far! It's just so beautiful!. I just wanted to introduce myself and let you know that if you ever need anything, my partner and I would be happy to help!"

"Oh, that's really nice of you. Thank you." I said, trying to sound normal.

She shoved the plate of cookies toward me and continued, "I can already tell that baking is going to be my favorite activity here, I hope you enjoy these."

"Oh, uh, yeah, thanks." I said awkwardly. There was a moment of silence in which she clearly expected to be invited inside and I was trying to figure out a way to get her to leave. After an uncomfortable moment, I said, "I wish I could invite you in, but I've just adopted a dog who has some aggression issues. I am trying to train him, but I would be afraid for you if you came inside just now."

"Oh, I love dogs! I'd love to meet him!"

"Yeah," I mumbled, "Maybe another time. Goodbye!"

I shut the door before she had a chance to reply. She would think I was rude, and I had been, but there were more important things than manners in my life, eight of them to be exact. Well, nine, if you count the dog.

Sarge crept back up the stairs. "I don't know what my life has come to, being afraid of silly women delivering cookies."

I nodded in agreement, "I'll feel much safer once you're all tucked away in the silo."

Slowly, my bedroom door opened and the other 7 walked cautiously into the room. The energy and enthusiasm was completely gone, and Rayne ran directly up to Sarge and leapt into his arms.

"Are the aliens gone?"

"Yes sweetheart. They're gone. They'll never get you."

And I knew it was true. As I looked around the room, I could see the silent promise in every adult's eyes; they would protect this child with their own lives. So would I.


	35. Apprehension

I was the proud new owner of a farmhouse and 2300 acres of corn. Also, a missile silo, but that was just an underground bonus that I did not bother to mention to the bank or the seller. They had no need to know.

The true owner of the farmhouse, the land, and the silo was actually Sarge. He had bought it decades ago with his retirement money, planning to someday renovate the silo so it could be occupied by humans. He had leased the use of the property to a nearby farmer and his wife and had moved back to Montana, biding his time until he had accumulated enough money for the renovation. The pair of human farmers worked the land for nearly 15 years before they were killed in a car accident, right around the time that the Souls began to populate the Rocky Mountain region. Sarge had not bothered to find a new person to lease the land to, so the property was left to lie fallow.

The farmhouse was now occupied by a pair of Souls, neither of whom had a calling in agriculture. They had been placed there as Healers: insertion specialists. The two of them were responsible for turning the residents of Deer Trail, all 546 of them, into Souls.

Fortunately for me, and unfortunately for all the former humans in the nearby town, the Healers had completed their work. The entire town was changed. They were ready to move on, and I was ready to move in.

The bank, which now dealt with deeds and legal details rather than money, was ecstatic that I was interested in the property and gave me the deed without any fuss. The Healer couple generously left the house completely furnished for me too. All I had had to do was promise to keep the land in good condition. Farming was so close to my original calling of groundskeeper that I was approved immediately.

The good Souls of Deer Trail were delighted that the land would once again produce food.

I was delighted because the old farmhouse was huge, complete with a cellar and a barn, and provided the perfect in-between hideout for my family of rouge humans.

We moved on the first of March, and settled comfortably into the large house. It was white with a wrap-around porch and old wood floors. The windows were small and the appliances were ancient, but it had a homey feeling to it, and no one complained that the water heater occasionally only gave us lukewarm showers or that the stove only had two settings, burnt and extra-crispy. Okay, that was not entirely true. Eric complained about the water heater, and the stove, and the slow Internet, and the cold floors, and the small bedrooms. But really, everyone else was fine. Here, everyone had their own bedroom (except Jess, because Rayne insisted on sleeping with Cole, and Cole insisted on sleeping with Jess). The barn was empty, allowing us to park all three of our vehicles out of sight. The old fuel tank that had been used to fill the farm equipment was decrepit, so I decided that it was time to replace it—and make it four times bigger.

I also filed for a building permit. I had decided that we needed some new grain silos. The shiny cylinders were built directly on top of the missile silos, covering all evidence that there was a structure below. As a finishing touch, I built an equipment bay, right over the top of the now-working elevator and escape hatch. It was large enough for a semi to back up to, and easily allowed us to smuggle in our supplies. Under the guise of getting supplies for spring planting, I acquired a semi truck, which we filled with supplies from various places around the state, unloading them directly into the equipment bay and waiting elevator.

Everything was going as planned, and that terrified me.

Conscious that I was expected to portray the life of a bachelor and a farmer, I went into town regularly.

One day in early April I walked into the Thriftway for my weekly shopping trip. I smiled and waved at Brenda, the cashier, and made my way up and down each aisle. A small carton of milk, eggs, bread, fruit, vegetables, meat, and a sampling of nearly every frozen microwavable meal all made their way into my cart—each item carefully chosen to portray the life of a bachelor.

I walked up to the check-out and began unloading my items, giving Brenda a quick smile.

"How are you today Burns?" Brenda asked conversationally, scanning each item and packing them efficiently into plastic bags.

"Oh, I'm doing well, thanks for asking. Just getting ready for spring planting. How are you?"

Brenda nodded, "I'm fine, thanks. Spring planting, huh? That's a lot of work for just one person."

"I don't mind. I rather enjoy it actually." I shrugged, giving my attention back to unloading the cart. "And some of my friends from Boulder might come out to help." I added, hoping to explain any accidental human sightings on my land.

"Well have a good week, and if your friends come, make sure you bring them to the next community service day."

I smiled and nodded, "Will do. Thanks for the groceries."

"Anytime."

I headed out the door and deposited the groceries in my truck. Clouds were rolling in and I knew that rain was on the way. Spring was in the air, and everything seemed to be happier and brighter. Smiling at Mrs. Anderson and her son on my way down the street, I pulled open the door to the hardware store and called loudly, "Hey Andrew, it's Burns. I'm just here for a garden hose, mine is leaking."

I hurt a grunt of a reply from somewhere in the paint section as I made my way toward the gardening supplies. I smiled to myself. Andrew was one of the first settlers of Earth, moving to Small Town USA after his "tour of duty" (as he liked to call it) in New York City years ago. Living as a Soul in a human world had rubbed off on him, and his occasional rudeness and irritable personality secretly amused me. I wondered if I would become like him after spending so much time with humans. Though he was not a Seeker, his observant nature concerned me and I was careful to keep the façade up while he was around. He might not be naturally suspicious, but if he saw something out of place, I was certain he would investigate. Of all the Souls I had met on Earth, he was the one I liked best, even though he was also the most likely Soul to discover my traitorous activities.

I grabbed a hose and headed toward the counter, "Do you want me to just write down what I took so you can itemize it later?" I called.

Another grunt, which I took to mean yes, came from the paint supplies section, so I grabbed a pen and a pad of paper and wrote down "One 25' garden hose for Burns Living Flowers." I left the note in plain view on the countertop and hollered my goodbye over my shoulder as I returned to my truck. I threw the garden hose in the back and hopped into the drivers seat. A piece of paper was marring my view through my windshield, so I rolled the window down and reached out to grab it.

It said "Community Service Day, April 5th" in big letters. Wonderful. A whole day that I would be expected to participate in enthusiastically. Maybe I was more like Andrew than I thought.

I put the truck in drive and made my way out of town and onto the long dirt road that led under the interstate and to my farmhouse. We lived only a few miles from town, but it was all flat, open country, allowing us to keep an eye on anyone nearing our hideout from miles away.

I parked the truck in front of the house and got out, bracing myself for impact. Rayne sprang out of the front door of the house, launched herself down the stairs and into my arms. I caught her easily, by now used to her enthusiastic greetings, and twirled her around before setting her down. "Hi." I said, smiling at her flushed cheeks and mussed hair, "what did you do today?"

Rayne took a deep breath and allowed her excitement to explode, "Nate and Rob made me a rope swing in the barn, it's so much fun! And we found kittens in the loft and Eric let me and Jess and Rachel use his computer to go shopping for clothes and we're having mashed potatoes for dinner!"

"Wow! You've been busy!"

"Yup, wanna come see the swing?"

"Absolutely. Lead the way." I left the groceries in the truck. It was only 40 degrees outside and they would keep for a few minutes.

She grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the barn, "We can see the kittens too!"

I allowed myself to be dragged along, smiling at her joy. Even after everything that had happened, Rayne still got excited about things like swings and kittens. We took twenty minutes in the barn trying out the new swing and watching the kittens nurse, the mama cat watching us with a warning in her eyes.

We exited the barn to the first pattering of raindrops on the dry, dusty driveway. While I grabbed the groceries and the hose, Rayne simply stood with her chin tilted toward the heavens. Droplets smattered against her face, and she smiled.

"I love the rain."

"I love my Rayne." I said, as I kissed the top of her head and walked into the house just in time. The rain intensified in a hurry, pounding on the roof of the old house. I began to put the groceries away while Rayne enjoyed her namesake, arms outstretched and twirling in the suddenly colossal downpour.

Jess came down the stairs and said "Welcome home," giving me quick hug before stepping away quickly, her eyes averted.

I smiled. Home. Such a small word for such a wonderful thing.

My musings were interrupted by Jess's shriek, "Rayne, get inside this instant! You're going to catch your death if you stay out there in the cold!" She threw an accusatory glance at me, "She's going to be freezing and get sick, what were you thinking letting her stay out there?"

Embarrassment rolled over me as I realized I had disappointed Jess. I should know better and now Jess was mad. "I'm sorry." I said, hoping the emotion in my voice conveyed more meaning than the two simple words.

Jess grabbed a towel from a nearby closet and enveloped Rayne in it as she entered the house. Her muddy shoes were left by the door while Jess picked her up and hurried her upstairs.

"You need to get out of those clothes and have a warm bath." I heard her instruct, using what I had classified as her Mama Voice.

I could hear Rayne's sigh all the way downstairs, and I could not help the smile that came to my face.

Rob, Rachel, Maria, Sarge, and Nate all came rushing through the door, each shaking droplets of water from their coats and removing their muddy shoes. They had been installing the kitchen equipment today, and had apparently finished earlier than expected.

"We need a few more supplies to get the stove installed correctly. We had to stop early because we didn't have the right connectors." Sarge explained their early arrival, "If you can get us the stuff on this list, we'll be able to finish tomorrow."

He handed me a list with a few items on it. "Can I get these at the hardware store in town?" I asked him.

"Definitely. They're all just basic items that you should be able to get anywhere."

I nodded and began to put on my boots and coat so I could head back into town. I stared outside at the miserable weather and sighed "Rain, rain, go away." I mumbled under my breath as I opened the door and stepped onto the porch.

Sarge interrupted my exit by hissing at me, "just don't sing that when Rayne's around!"

I stopped and asked "Why?"

"It's the signal. It means one of us has been turned and Rayne's in danger. It means she'll run and hide."

"Huh." I said as I processed the idea of a warning song. "I guess that would work."

Sarge was constantly singing songs for Rayne about rain. "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain," "Rain is a Good Thing," "Singin in the Rain," and even a little "Set Fire to the Rain." He always did it when he left for the day and again when he came home. It was their special way to communicate. I remembered how he had sung, "All I Needed was the Rain" the first day I met them, and things began to make sense. When Rayne heard that song, she knew she could come out safely. All the songs were signals. They all meant that he was alright; that she was safe.

I filed the knowledge away for future use and continued out the door. The trip to town was short but muddy, and when I rushed into the warmth of the hardware store, shaking my coat and wiping my feet, Andrew greeted me with a smirk.

"Forget something?" He asked.

"Yeah, just a few little things. I'm having a problem with my stove." I replied as I walked toward the aisle that had what I needed.

"I could come out and take a look if you want." Andrew offered. Humans may have rubbed off on him, but he was still very much a Soul, selfless and concerned for my well-being.

"Thank you!" I replied, "If this doesn't work tonight, I might just ask you to."

I had no intention of inviting Andrew over. Ever. But it was what he would expect me to say, so I played along. I found the items that I needed without much problem, I had been getting more and more familiar with tools and hardware ever since Nate started his basement project in the Boulder house, and carried them up to the counter.

Andrew scanned everything into his computer and put the items in a bag.

"You coming to our Community Service day?" He asked as he handed me the bag.

"Yeah, wouldn't miss it, see ya then." I smiled as I walked to the door. I pushed open the door and rushed out to my truck, wrenching the door open and jumping inside in as quickly as possible. The rain was still heavy and intense, and just the short trip to the truck had me dripping. I drove home, the windshield wipers going full speed, and parked my muddy truck as close to the porch as possible.

I ran inside and was greeted by a warm blast of air and the smell of a roast with gravy and mashed potatoes. Rayne, her hair damp from her recent adventure, was hopping around the kitchen, sort of helping Eric and sort of sampling all the food before it was ready. Eric shooed her away, but I could see that he was not very bothered by her "help." Cole was following Rayne around (and staying clear of Eric), his eyes begging her to drop a piece of meat for him. Rachel was setting the table and Jess was settled comfortably in an overstuffed chair, clean laundry folded in a basket at her feet and her sketchpad and pencils in her lap. Maria was knitting something and was settled on the sofa beside Nate who was making a fleet of paper airplanes. Rob and Sarge were already intensely involved in their nightly game of chess.

Everyone was relaxed and comfortable. I felt a deep contentment as I watched them. Life was good and my family was safe. For now.


	36. Excusion

On the morning of April 5th, I put on my work boots, layered some sturdy clothing under my coat, and headed out for Community Service Day in Deer Trail. The mood was bright and cheery, and from Andrew to Mrs. Anderson and her son Caleb to Brenda, it looked like everyone in town had turned up for the fun. I helped them pick up wind-blown trash along the road and repair the playground in the park in silence. Being quiet gave me fewer opportunities to accidentally reveal something that would hurt my family, and it also helped me eavesdrop on the locals, learning more about them. I filed everything away, carefully making mental profiles of everyone in town so that I would be prepared for any situation.

Andrew spent the day at my side. He seemed to prefer silence too. Little Caleb Anderson ran through the park with the other elementary aged children, obediently helping repair the playground equipment and helpfully testing it to make sure it all worked correctly. I watched them, comparing them to Rayne. Rayne was so much more energetic and excited about life. Souls in children's bodies were subjected to tiring years of physical growth and mental development, but some qualities showed through at any age. There were no arguments, no unsightly behaviors, and certainly no disobedience. They seemed happy, but none of them exuded joy the way Rayne did. I much preferred Rayne and her endless spunk and energy.

Brenda and her clique of young women wandered around the park, picking up trash (the result of a recent windstorm on garbage day-sanitation engineers had not been able to empty all the trash cans before the wind tipped the ones in town over) and giggling at whatever they were talking about. All four of them were in their late teens or early twenties and though I had seen all of them around town, Brenda was the only one who I had ever interacted with. They were too far away to listen to their conversation, but I caught Brenda and her friends staring at me a few times. They always looked away quickly, laughing and nudging each other playfully. Unconcerned with whatever they were discussing, I went back to work and focused my attention on conversations that were happening closer to where Andrew and I were mending the swings.

Mrs. Anderson was chattering with some of her lady friends, discussing all the planets they had lived on and comparing them all to Earth. According to them, Earth was the end-all, beat-all. I silently agreed. This was by far the best planet, even though I only had one other to compare it to. Their stories were interesting though, and I found myself enjoying their descriptions of the other planets.

At one point, the mayor's wife brought up the subject of wild humans, and my ears perked. The group of women was confident that the Seekers would soon have things under control, despite recent killings in some nearby towns. I winced, knowing from Rayne that Sarge had shot a few Seekers in his time. One of the women, who I recognized as the wife of a nearby farmer, hesitantly mentioned the rumor that humans were taking their bodies back. That Souls were being locked prisoner in the minds of their own hosts while the human consciousness lived on.

That was impossible. I refused to believe it. I knew as surely as the sky was blue that Stephen no longer existed. I had replaced him. Killed him. But my heart ached with the possibility. Was there hope for rescue after all? Could the Souls just remove themselves from the planet altogether, allowing humans to return to their lives? If I had someone take me out of Stephen, would he wake up, alive and alert? I was so intently focused on the issue that Andrew's next comment startled me enough to drop my wrench.

"You do realize that you are Deer Trail's most eligible bachelor." The old man casually commented as he tightened the bolts on the swing set, tipping his head toward Brenda and her posse.

My mouth swung open in surprise, and for the moment, all thoughts of wild humans and alien Souls vanished. "What?" I exclaimed.

"Brenda and her little group of single ladies have laid claim to you. Before you arrived, I was the only single man in town, and I'm not exactly what they're looking for." He gestured to his gray hair, beer belly, and scruffy face.

"Oh." I managed as my mind carefully retraced every conversation I had ever had with Brenda. They were all cordial. Polite. Friendly. Nothing ever suggesting that she was interested in me, and certainly nothing that I had done to suggest any kind of interest in her. I had never even been introduced to the three girls she was chatting with, but apparently they knew all about me.

"Downside of a small town, even I can't escape the girly gossip." Andrew mumbled returning to his work.

I think I managed to murmur some kind of agreement, but my head was full of the repercussions of being sought after by the eligible women in town. None of the scenarios my brain was imagining were good. It was not like I could date any of them. After what I had experienced, I highly doubted I would ever connect romantically with another Soul unless they felt the same way about humans as I did. If one of them ever arrived at my house unannounced, there was no telling what they would see. I had no idea if being a single Soul in a male human body required me to entertain females in a romantic way. Would it blow my cover to refuse her, or by refusing her would she just realize that I was not interested and move on?

None of the men I lived with were authorities on women. Eric avoided them, Nate had no time for them, Sarge was wise, but admitted to being married to the army, and Rob was making no progress in his attempt to woo Rachel. No, I would need female help for this problem.

Shoving the news about wild humans and overpowered Souls aside, I finished community day with the best smile I could muster. I almost managed to avoid any run-ins with Brenda or her band of giggling girls, partially because any time I saw them move my way, I found an excuse to run an errand. Everyone was thirsty? Great, I could get hot chocolate and bring it out to share. That tool broke and we needed a replacement? Andrew happily handed over the keys to his store when I said I would go find another. The kids were hungry and cold? Sure, I could take them to the Thriftway and get them snacks and allow them to thaw out in the warm store. The one time the girls approached me directly, I immediately turned to Andrew with a complicated question about cars. Andrew raised his brow, completely aware of what I was doing, and launched into a complicated answer, sure to bore everyone but the most obsessed car junkies. I was so grateful that he played along, especially after the girls retreated, obviously disinterested in our technical babble. After he finished his explanation, he shook his head and smiled.

"You know, having a female around to take care of you isn't all bad."

I mumbled some non-committal answer and continued fixing the swing. Andrew dropped the subject and we slipped into comfortable silence once again.

At the end of the day everyone gathered for a potluck meal, hosted in the community hall that used to double as a church. I hastily made my excuses, claiming I had chores to get to before dark, and escaped to my truck. Brenda smiled and waved me off, but I barely acknowledged her. I did not want her getting the wrong idea.

I walked into the house and was greeted by exactly the two women that I needed to talk to. It was their night to cook dinner (Eric was at the silo, consumed with installing all his new equipment), so both Rachel and Jess were bustling around the kitchen, preparing fried chicken, coleslaw, cornbread, and sweet tea.

I offered to help, but they both waved me off. It was probably just as well; I was hopeless in the kitchen. I took a seat on one of the barstools, leaning onto the countertop that separated the kitchen from the dining room. For a while I just watched in silence, wondering how to ask what I needed to ask, but Jess interrupted my thoughts,

"What do you want Burns? It's pretty clear you need something." She was not annoyed, but her voice and facial expression reminded me that she had plenty of experience interpreting boys having grown up with two brothers.

"How does a man tell if a woman is interested in him? Is it always obvious flirting or do girls really play innocent or hard to get?"

Rachel dropped the spoon she was using to combine the coleslaw ingredients and Jess hit her head on an open pantry door as she snapped around to face me.

"Why do you need to know?" Rachel asked, keeping her eyes on cleaning the spoon she had dropped.

"Well, there's this woman in town. Brenda. She works at the Thriftway." I started to explain.

Rachel relaxed immediately, and shared a look that I could not interpret with a scowling Jess.

"And you think Brenda is attractive? You'd like to get to know her better but aren't sure she returns your feelings?" Rachel asked.

"No! Just the opposite! Someone in town told me she and her posse of single friends had it out for me. Apparently I'm Deer Trail's most eligible bachelor." I gave the last few words some sarcastic air quotes, and immediately Jess and Rachel adjusted their body language into interrogation mode.

"You're the only single guy in town?" Rachel asked.

"You don't want a Soul to love and share your life with?" Jess added curiously.

I frantically shook my head no, resting my forehead on the cool countertop in frustration. "None of them would understand me. They consider wild humans to be dangerous savages. They wouldn't be able to accept the choices I've made and would never understand that I care more about my human family than my Soul family. I could never become partners with someone who didn't love humans too. How do I get them to forget about me?"

Jess was quick to reply, "Lie. Tell them that you have a girlfriend. Tell them that your partner is stuck on some other planet and will join you soon."

Rachel nodded her agreement, "Though that might make them jealous. Be careful how you word it; make sure they know there is no chance of them ever getting to know you like that. Make them think you're so in love with this other Soul that you can't even function properly without her."

I nodded, pondering their answers. The next time I was at the Thriftway I would casually mention my partner stranded on Singing World until her life term was over. I would have to come up with a back-story to explain how we met and why I was not with her now, but I would figure it out.

I relaxed about my girl problems and returned my focus to the possibility of the human soul surviving insertion and remaining an active part of human body functions, battling with Souls for control of the host mind.

Though I trusted all my human family completely (except maybe Maria), this was dangerous information. I needed to keep it to myself. Do further research. Decide what I wanted to do with the information. Figure out how the information could help my band of survivors.

We ate dinner together, Rayne dominating the conversation as usual. I was abnormally quiet because I had a lot on my mind, but the adults at the table seemed to sense my need for silence. Rayne was not so perceptive. I did not hear her addressing me until she sang my name from the other side of the table at full volume. I left my musings and gave her my full attention.

"What is wrong with you, Burns?"

I gave her a sheepish smile, "I'm sorry Rayne. I just have a lot on my mind."

Jess snorted, "Yeah, today he discovered that he is Deer Trail's most eligible bachelor. He had girls following him around all day." She rolled her eyes as she slopped a second helping of coleslaw on her plate.

Nate's eyes lit up immediately and I could almost see the wheels in his head turning as he processed how best to tease me.

Oh, great. Thank you Jessica. Who knew what Nate was going to do with information like this.

"Any of them cute?" He asked playfully, wiggling his eyebrows. "You just met them, right? Did any of them give you their number so you could call them, maybe?

The rest of the adults at the table laughed as Nate started singing "Call Me Maybe" under his breath, breaking out some arm movements to the song and using his spoon as a microphone. Rayne caught on and starting singing the lyrics, and before I could escape the madness, the two of them were dancing around the kitchen, singing off key, encouraged by a round of applause from the rest of the table. I gave Jess a "you're in deep trouble" look before I grabbed my plate, set it in the sink, and retreated to my bedroom. The dance party continued downstairs while I pondered life and love. Nothing about being a human was easy. They loved too fiercely, cared too deeply, and got excited too easily. Being a Soul in a human body was even worse because I had human emotions and a Soul personality, each fighting for control of my body.

The next day life went back to normal. I maintained my farmer image, taking all the steps necessary to prepare for spring planting that was only weeks away. Everyone else made incredible progress on the silo. In just a few weeks the kitchen equipment was fully installed, there were three functioning bathrooms and a few more in the works. The water was clean and drinkable, and Rob had managed to repair the well which kept the water tanks full and fresh. The electricity was on and we managed to warm up the cold, concrete cave with space heaters. Beds and linens and furniture arrived and the girls took it upon themselves to not only create a space for everyone to live in, but to make it look like home. The move out of the farmhouse and into the silo was a quiet affair in the dead of a moonless night, and my little group of rebels started a new chapter in their collective story. Eric had completely transformed the two control rooms and was now happily geeking out as he monitored Seeker activity around the state, scanning every frequency on the radio and checking Seeker databases on a regular basis. His new professional grade kitchen was his pride and joy, and I even saw him smile a few times. Better yet, he had his own room near the control center while everyone else lived in the "apartments" down the tunnel near the actual silos. Rayne claimed two bedrooms, her old one near the kitchen that held all her toys and one in the apartments with Jess and Cole where she slept. She spent almost all her waking hours playing in her playground, swinging and whooshing down the slide—Nate frequently joined her.

I was left in the big farmhouse by myself. Even though they were all only a few miles away, I was lonely. I missed Rayne's enthusiasm and Sarge's quiet confidence and Nate's jokes. I missed Rob's ingenuity and Rachel's observant eyes and even Eric's cooking. And I missed Jess and the way she took care of me. Us. The way she took care of all of us.

The silo was good for them, though. They needed the space after living so close to each other for the last 6 months. Thanks to Eric's monitoring, we discovered that human activity, at least the obvious stuff, had become nearly nonexistent in the area. This part of the country was almost totally settled, the Souls in their new bodies and the humans who figured it out hiding underground. Nate, Rob, and Jess were all in favor of taking a roadtrip to search for more people. I was not excited about that idea, but agreed to go along. We planned the trip for summer, after spring planting and when the temperature was warm enough to sleep outside.

In the meantime, I kept busy. Spring planting was upon us and I spent hours in the fields, so grateful for the human technology that allowed me to do my job without having to plant each seed individually. We were careful, planting wheat on the outskirts of the property and around the farmhouse so that visibility was far reaching. We planted corn around and above the silo, knowing the high stalks would allow some cover if the humans ever had to evacuate quickly. We also cut a nearly invisible road to the ground level entrance on the far side, which now sported a large, camouflaged garage door, allowing vehicles to pass in and out of the tunnel without much notice. Rob and Sarge, being the strategizers they were, prepared and buried survival kits in various places out in the cornfields. Backpacks that contained everything someone needed to escape on foot.

They day they were all moved in safely, I took my first totally relaxed breath since this whole journey had begun. I was confident that the compound was unnoticeable to anyone who did not already know it existed. My cover story held up in town, and though sometimes the older women asked nosy questions, everyone seemed to believe that I was here with totally innocent purposes.

I visited the compound every chance I got and soaked in the love and feeling of belonging from my human friends. I was more confident than ever that I was doing the right thing. Humans were beautiful creatures, and one of the most wonderful things about them was their individuality and personality. Each one was more different than the next, so opposite the cookie-cutter personalities of the Souls.

One Wednesday night after I finished working in the fields, I stopped the tractor by the silo on my way home, hoping to catch my family at dinnertime. I was surprised to find a bustle of activity taking place as Rob, Nate, and Jess rushed around, packing supplies into a non-descript full-sized SUV that I had acquired on one of my many supply runs.

"What's going on?" I had no idea what was happening. Had our location been compromised so soon?

"Eric got intel that some humans are holed up in a cabin outside of Colby, Kansas. Apparently they have an unlimited supply of ammo and good aim because they've been killing any and every Seeker that tries to approach. The call for backup from Colorado Seekers was sent last night, and a whole squadron of Seekers is on their way. It's only two and a half hours away. If we hurry, we can get there before backup arrives, find a way to get them to come with us, and high-tail it back here."

"I…" I tried to talk, but my thoughts were not making sense in my head. I tried again, "I don't…"

"We know you can't come with us." Nate said as he tossed another bag of supplies in the truck, "You have to stay here. Keep up the cover story. Besides, you're only halfway through planting; it'd be odd for you to leave, even for a few hours, and we don't know how long this is going to take. We might have to lay a false trail down before we come back here."

I was speechless. What Nate was saying made sense, but I was totally and completely terrified of what would happen to them. They would not have me to protect them. They would be entirely on their own. Nate hastily grabbed my hand and pulled me into a man-hug while Rob patted me on the shoulder.

"We'll be fine. We have a cell phone and a radio. We'll keep in touch as much as we can."

They both hugged Rachel goodbye, waved to Maria, shook Sarge's hand, and then the two of them hopped into the front seats. Right behind them, Jess opened up the back door, preparing to climb in behind the passenger seat.

My speechlessness quickly turned to overpowering worry, which somehow accessed my speaking capabilities. My mouth moved of its own accord.

"No. No. Absolutely not. You are not going with them. You have to stay here. You have to take care of Rayne and do the laundry. You cannot go with them, you just can't." I walked up to the door and slammed it shut. "You're not going. That's final." I was heaving by the time I was done as I glared at Jess who glared just as defiantly back.

"I'm a grown woman who can make her own choices, and I've been through Colby multiple times on my way to visit my aunt and cousins in Topeka. You can't stop me, I'm going!"

With a huff she reopened the door, climbed in, and slammed it shut, crossing her arms and staring at the seatback in front of her. Both Rob and Nate gave me sympathetic looks, but they did nothing to come to my aide. They were actually going to let her go! The SUV was speeding down the tunnel to the ground-floor entrance before I had time to even comprehend all the facts.

They were gone. Rob. Nate. Jess. All gone. I may never see them again—or if I did, they might be completely changed. Never the same.

"Idiots." Maria muttered from her spot near the Control Center's door. She huffed in disapproval as she stalked back down the long tunnel toward her apartment. Rachel watched her leave and then addressed Sarge quietly, "Do you really think they'll be okay?"

"Yes." Sarge confidently. Nate is a quick thinker, Rob is excellent at strategy and combat, and Jess is smart. Hopefully smart enough to reign the other two in if necessary." He pulled Rayne closer to his side—she was already hugging his waist tightly as she watched the proceedings with big, scared eyes—and suggested that everyone go back to the Control Center for games and food, his eyes indicating that everyone needed to help distract Rayne.

Rachel, who was clearly terrified, caught on quickly and nodded her agreement. She faked a bright smile and turned to Rayne.

"Would you like to have a tea party with me?"

Rayne shook her head no, her demeanor changing as she took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. Watching an eight-year-old compose herself so quickly was a tremendous indication of everything the young girl had adapted to. She was a tough little squirt.

She turned to me and said, "Now can we go on that tractor ride you've been promising?" Her voice was controlled, but I detected a bit of hope and Rayne-like enthusiasm behind her composed question.

I gave her my best smile and pulled her up into a hug. I wished desperately that she could live in a world without fear, but I was determined to make this world she lived in as happy as possible.

"Of course." I turned to Rachel and Sarge, "We'll be back before bedtime."

I took Rayne's hand and led her up the seven flights of stairs toward the hatch. Once in the equipment bay, I pointed toward the tractor.

"Well, get on up there. Go on."

She flashed me her mega-watt smile and ran around the side to scramble up the steps. The tires on the tractor were taller than she was, so getting into it was difficult, but she managed. Soon she was waving excitedly at me from inside the cab. I waved back and used my own long legs to jump in beside her. I pointed out some of the knobs and buttons and explained their meaning as we exited the equipment bay and took off down the road. I had planned on doing a full circle around the farm, something that would probably take us a little over an hour given the tractor's slow speed. Rayne settled comfortably into my side, the scent of her strawberry shampoo filling the cab. I smiled and hugged her closer. She was so precious. If I had a daughter, I would want her to be like Rayne.

As we were passing my farmhouse, Rayne tugged on my sleeve and whispered, "I have to go to the bathroom." She was already cringing, waiting for me to turn into Sarge and scold her for not going before we left, but I simply turned into my driveway and parked the tractor outside the house. I helped her disembark and she rushed inside, promising to only be a minute.

I waited, leaning up against the huge tractor tire, absently adding up all the things I needed to do to finish spring planting. Distracted as I was, I did not notice the truck until it was turning into my long driveway.

One glance and I was on the run. I tore open the front door and took the stairs two at a time. "Rayne!" I hissed. No response. "Rayne, you need to come out right now. Someone is coming, I have to hide you."

The bathroom door swung open, "But I didn't wash my hands." She whispered.

I ignored her comment and grabbed her by the waist. I hauled her, fireman style, down the stairs and into the huge pantry that had the trapdoor leading to the cellar. I dropped Rayne ungracefully (she landed on her feet) and pushed away the rug that was covering the door. I grabbed the metal latch and hauled the heavy oak door open, hurriedly pushing Rayne down the stairs.

"Be quiet and stay there until I come get you. Do you understand Rayne?"

She nodded solemnly and disappeared into the darkness. She knew where the lamp and matches were down there, so she would not have to sit by herself in the dark, but as I closed the hatch, I heard her whisper, "I wish I had Rainbow."

Teddy bears. Considering Rayne's attachment to that bear, I made the snap decision that we should add a teddy bear to every survival kit. It made Rayne feel safe.

I processed these thoughts as I re-covered the trapdoor and hurried outside. I was out of breath and my heart was beating out of my chest, but I mustered my best fake smile and called out, "Hi Andrew! What brings you around these parts? Anything I can do for you?"


	37. Miscommunication

I was focusing on calming my racing heart as Andrew answered my question.

"Well, you see, I just fancied myself a drive out this way." He replied, glancing back toward the road, "Thought I'd stop by and see your place. This old farmhouse is a piece of human history, and the architect inside me has been admiring it for some time. Hope I'm not distracting you from your work" He gestured to the tractor that was still running in the driveway.

"Oh!" I exclaimed, jumping into the tractor to turn it off. I also quickly disabled the radio—the last thing I needed was a human trying to contact me while I was with another Soul. "So irresponsible of me to leave it running, I just had to run inside to use the facilities and figured it'd save gas to leave it idling rather than turning it off and on again." I really had no idea if that was even true about saving gas, but it was my story and I was sticking to it.

"You still have work that needs doin tonight?"

"Oh, um, no not really." I was frantically trying to remember the lessons Nate had given me concerning lying. Eye contact. No hand movement. Confidence. Short, simple answers. Smile. "One of my irrigation ditches needs some widening and reinforcement in preparation for the snowmelt and mountain run-off on the far north side of my land. I was thinking I'd fix it tonight, but I can do it tomorrow just as easily." That was a half-truth, much easier for me than an out-right lie. I really had been planning on fixing it tonight after dinner, but with Rayne in such a weird mood, I had put off my plans until tomorrow.

"Would you like some help? These old bones need to do some heavy lifting every now-and-again to make sure I don't get too sloppy."

That caught me off guard. His offer carried a second meaning with it, and undertone of purpose. I was still pretty bad at reading most human facial expressions—the members of my family were easier because I knew them better—but even I could tell that he had something on his mind. I internally debated myself, realizing that if Andrew had something important enough to drive all the way out here to talk to me about, then I should probably listen. And preferably, that conversation would happen as far away from Rayne and her hideout as possible.

Somewhere in the back of my head, a human saying popped up. "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer." So that is what I would do.

I hoped he did not notice my brief hesitation before I said "Oh, thank you. That's very kind of you. A second person would probably make it go a lot faster!" Inwardly I was kicking myself. Go figure I would invite him to help with the one project that put a person at the perfect angle to see into the north-facing ground-level tunnel. The crops had not grown yet. The tunnel entrance had no cover except the flimsy camouflage on the garage door. Maybe some Souls would miss it, but not Andrew. He was much too experienced and observant.

I thought quickly. Sunset was in an hour. In the twilight, the complex would be difficult to spot. Impossible, really, unless you knew what you were looking for.

If I could stall him for a half hour and then go fix the ditch, it would be too dark for him to see any details as we passed by. It was unfortunate that Rayne was stuck in the cellar, but I would never let anything happen to her. I knew that she was frightened, but frightened was better than dead or discovered. I really wished I had thought of teddy bears earlier. Rayne was strong though, she could get through this, and as soon as we were on the other side, I would buy her a puppy to make her feel better.

Plan in place, I gave Andrew a bright smile

"Would you like to come inside? I haven't eaten supper yet and I was going to grab a protein bar on my way out to the ditch, but since you're here I can whip up something really quick."

Andrew smiled and nodded, and together we walked up the steps to the door. I mentally reviewed the interior of my home, making sure no signs of humans, especially little girl humans, were present. After a few seconds taking a mental tour of my house without any red flags appearing, I was confident that it would appear 100% bachelor pad. God bless Rachel and Jess for cleaning up the place after the hoard of dirty men moved out.

We moved from the entrance hall past the living room and dining room into the kitchen. Rayne was right below us, probably listening to every word we said. We had never calculated the sound-proof capabilities of the cellar, so I hoped she remained composed and quiet.

I opened my refrigerator and surveyed the contents. Very little of it looked appetizing, and none of it was enough for two people. I pulled open the freezer. Jackpot.

Pulling out four different microwavable meals, I allowed Andrew to examine them shrugging as I did so, "I'm a terrible cook."

He just laughed and selected the spaghetti and meatballs combo while I took the steak stroganoff one. "I practically live on these things." He announced with a smile. I returned his smile and let him pop his in the microwave first. While he was fiddling with the buttons on the microwave, I discretely disabled the kitchen radio. It was a secure channel, so if any of the humans used it they would not be guarding their words.

After we had eaten supper, I looked outside at the fading light. "Do you have time right now?" I asked hopefully, as if the idea to do the work tonight had just occurred to me.

Andrew shrugged, "Sure."

That was one of the things I liked about Andrew: he was a simple Soul. One and two word answers (or grunts) worked for him just fine. He was helpful without being pushy. Nice without being sickeningly sweet. Honest without giving out too much information. Being forced to appear human for so long had brought out a side to the Soul that I liked very much.

I tried to relax and formulated a plan.

"Let me go grab my extra waterproof boots and a second pair of gloves. There are some shovels in the barn, though we'll be using the tractor for most of the big stuff. Maybe you could get those?"

Andrew nodded his agreement and exited the house, heading for the barn. I scooted into the living room to grab a pillow and a blanket and then returned to the pantry by way of the kitchen. As I removed the rug covering the trapdoor, I called to Rayne through the cracks, softly, humming a few bars of Singing in the Rain, assuring her that it was only me and she was safe. Then I hauled the door open, and peered down into the cellar where Rayne was sitting quietly, tucked into a ball, the lamp flickering beside her.

"Rayne, I have to go with Andrew for a little while. I won't be very long, but you're going to have to stay down here for a while. Keep quiet. Try not to be scared. I'll be back for you soon. I dropped the blanket and pillow down the stairs and she scrambled to pull it down onto the floor. Very quickly she skittered up the steep stairs and hugged my shoulders awkwardly, giving me a kiss on the cheek.

"Is Andrew a bad alien or a nice alien?" She whispered, her eyes concerned.

That was more complicated than I had time to get into. "He's not a bad alien, but he also can't be trusted. Don't ever trust any Souls but me. I can't let him know about you. That's why you have to hide."

"Sarge and Maria and Rachel?" She stated the names as a question.

"They're all safe in the silo. I'll take you back there later tonight to see them. I have to go now though. Try to sleep."

I shut her safely away, returning the rug to its original position, and ran to the mudroom to gather the boots and gloves. I hastily dialed Sarge, then Rob, but as usual, the reception on the prairie was nonexistent and I could not even get a dial tone. I ran back into the kitchen and tried the radio. No one answered and I did not have time to waste. I grabbed a notepad and hastily scribbled "With Andrew. R is safe down under. Sorry." I left it on the counter, doubting anyone would see the note but covering my bases anyway. Pocketing my phone, I exited the house just as Andrew returned with the shovels.

"Warm night." He said casually, staring up at the stars.

"Yes." I agreed, "It's a beautiful night."

The tractor's cab was not quite big enough for two adults, but we managed to make it work with minimal discomfort.

I turned the key and it roared to life beneath us. I pulled a hard U-turn and steered the giant piece of machinery down my driveway and onto the road. The first few moments were comfortably silent. Sort of. He was a pleasant companion, but my all-consuming fear for my family and their secret lair made me tense.

We passed by the silo after about 15 minutes, and to ordinary eyes, it simply looked like new grain silos and an equipment bay, reflecting the sunset over the mountains.

Andrew nodded toward the shiny grain silos, "Those new?"

"Yeah, when I took over this place a lot of the farm equipment was in disrepair. I've had to do a lot of work around the place."

Andrew nodded thoughtfully. "It's a shame that the previous owners did not take proper care of the equipment. So much waste."

I nodded and counted down the seconds it took for us to get beyond the shiny metal buildings that were covering my family's hideout. Four, three, two, one: We were clear! I let a silent sigh of relief escape my lips. I was just about to change the subject when Andrew spoke up again.

"I had a delivery to make over in Agate today." I nodded, going along with his small talk. Agate was a town about the same size as Deer Trail about 10 miles southeast, right on the interstate. While the population totals were nearly identical for the two towns, Deer Trail was the one with a traffic light, grocery store, hardware store, mechanic, school, and diner. We even boasted a library. Sort of. It was one bookshelf full of cheap paperbacks in the community center, but it was a library none-the-less. All Agate had was a post office and a gas station.

"On my way back here, I saw something rather strange."

I nodded again, uninterested in whatever thrilling wild animal he had spotted. Hawk? Antelope? My guess was eagle. He continued without prompting.

"Yeah, there was a big SUV tearing down I-70, going far faster than the posted speed limit. A couple of guys I've never seen before were in the front seats. I saw them get onto the interstate using the Deer Trail entrance, coming from your direction. Did you notice them pass by?"

Every single cell in my body was panicking, but with extreme effort I managed to keep my voice calm. Nate knew better than to speed when Souls were watching. I inwardly cursed their stupidity while I attempted to display only innocent curiosity.

"No. I didn't see a thing. Was it that strange?"

Andrew nodded vehemently, "yes, there was definitely something wrong."

"Who do you think it was? Where were they going? What were they doing?" I asked, reigning in the rest of the questions I wanted to ask him.

_Breath, Burns, just breathe._

"I have no idea. My first thought was that they were racing to the hospital, but then they should have been traveling west to Denver, not east to nowhere. Then I thought it might be humans, but the local Seekers have assured us that this entire area has been settled and is safe. They drove like humans though." he shuddered, probably remembering his traumatic experiences in New York City during the earliest days of the invasion.

"Huh."

It was the only word I could get to come out of my mouth. Not even three months here and we had already been discovered. And with Rob, Jess, and Nate driving pell-mell all over the interstate, our chances of getting caught before we could escape were high.

"Did you report it?" I finally managed, mentally praising myself for how normal I sounded.

"No. I thought I'd come out here and take a look around first. I prefer to investigate on my own before I call the Seekers. I don't want them invading our town unless I'm sure."

There was still hope. I just had to convince him that the area was human-free.

"Well, I have covered every inch of my land in this thing, and if there was a human gang hiding out here, I would have found them by now. They were probably just passing through. Surely Denver has a few rebel cells that are trying to escape the city."

He nodded, processing my suggestion, "Or maybe they live way out on the prairie and were forced to come into town to get onto the Interstate. It's the only access point for miles."

Oh how well I knew that unfortunate fact. Once I got Nate out of this mess I was enforcing a new rule. Back roads at all times and no speeding. Ever. Really,  _what had they been thinking?_

"Yeah, that must be it. They must live really far out there."

I debated changing the subject, weighed the pros and cons of distracting Andrew from his curiosity or encouraging him with false information.

"If it turns out that I'm right and there are wild humans living around here, I'll give my friend from NYC a call. He's had more experience with wild humans than any of the Seekers here. They're all still using training wheels."

I was both comforted and horrified by the thought. On the one hand, in Andrew's experienced opinion, the local Seekers were incompetent, which meant less chance of discovery for us. On the other hand, this big city Seeker sounded like someone we would not want to have investigate the area. Ever.

We had reached the irrigation ditch and both of us climbed out of the cab. The air had turned chilly with the sunset, but it was still plenty warm to do work. I used the spotlight on the tractor to light up the forked area that needed work and both Andrew and I jumped in to survey the situation. The problem here was that the left fork created so much momentum that it caved the right fork in, sending extra water east and too little water south.

After we made a few strategic plans, Andrew got back into the tractor and used the backhoe attachment to dig the right fork a foot deeper and two feet wider. He piled the mud along the sides of the ditch and when he was finished, the two of us hopped in, using the displaced mud to reinforce the walls and the intersection, making them taller and stronger. It was slow work, but we managed to get it all done. One good spring flood would have this ditch in disrepair again, but for the time being, it was adequate.

"Eventually you may need to come out here and lay some concrete down at this intersection." Andrew commented casually, leaning on his shovel as he surveyed our work.

"Looks like it." I agreed.

We shed our muddy boots and gloves and set them on the sideboards for the drive home, then we both climbed back into the tractor and I made a U-turn to get us facing the direction of home. The spotlight was still on, and as we swung around to the north, Andrew's arm with extended finger shot into the air, pointing at something up on a far-off hill.

"What's that?" he asked, his voice intense.

My eyes searched the darkness, praying that Sarge, Maria, Rachel and Eric were all safely inside the compound and not taking any walks in the moonlight. Surely my humans had met their quota of stupid for the day.

I relaxed when I recognized what he was pointing at. I saw it everyday and barely gave it any notice anymore.

"Oh, that's the old Prairie Winds Farm cabin. The original owners built a much bigger, much nicer house a couple of decades ago right on the road to the east. That shack has been in ruin for years."

"Hmm. I doubt humans could live there for any length of time without being discovered, but perhaps they used it as a shelter as they were driving through." He mused. "That project is simple enough for the local Seekers to take care of. I'll give them a call when I get home."

"Good idea." I said, but inside I was screaming, cursing Andrew for being perceptive, Nate for being stupid, and Jess for being gone. The good news was that the quickest way to the cabin would lead the Seekers down the county road on the far east side of my land, not the one that passed by my secret silo. From up on the hilltop, the missile silo should look exactly like a grain silo. Nothing else.

If I worked this right, we would all get out of this alive. That was assuming I got cell reception sometime soon. I discretely glanced at my phone again. No missed calls, not even a text message.

We made the drive home in silence, both of us deep in thought. I was reviewing escape plans in my mind while Andrew was unknowingly plotting the demise of my family. Our ditch digging had taken nearly two hours, meaning I had kept Rayne away from the silo for nearly four hours. It was well past her bedtime.

Once we arrived at my house we parked the tractor in the barn and said our goodbyes. Andrew was rolling out of the driveway in a truck bearing the hardware store logo, and for the moment I was fairly certain that our little group remained fully human (except me and Cole) and intact.

I wasted no time in opening up the cellar door, apologizing for the four hours that it had taken me to deal with Andrew. It was pitch black down there. Rayne was not inside.

The word panic is not enough to describe my feelings in that moment. I completely lost control of my composure. I yelled through the house, "Rayne, if you're in here, you need to come out now!" I hated singing, but this situation called for extreme actions. Singing in the Rain was the only song I knew all the lyrics to, so while I belted out a poor imitation of Gene Kelly, screaming the word "Rain!" as loudly as I could every time it came up in the chorus, I searched. I quickly gave up on the house. If she had been there, she would have come out as soon as I started singing. I raced over to the barn, singing and searching and panicking. I was just about to give up on the barn when a sleepy looking Rayne poked her head over the side of the loft, a kitten smushed in her arms.

"I got lonely and scared and cold." She tried to explain, tears running down her cheeks. "You were gone a long time."

I scaled the ladder to the loft quickly and examined her little hiding place. Completely invisible from below, her nest was covered with blankets, pillows, and kittens. I was upset with her for disobeying my orders, but she had done a good job finding another place to hide.

I heaved a sigh of relief and gathered her into my arms.

"You almost gave me a heart attack." I told her seriously. "Don't ever do that again. If I say stay, no matter how scared or cold or lonely you are, you stay. You got that?"

Rayne nodded, a tinge of pink staining her cheeks as she continued to cry.

"I'm so sorry I left you here alone in the dark scary cellar. Maybe you and I can put a real light in there, and puzzles and games and a teddy bear so that if this ever happens again, you won't be so scared."

Rayne nodded mutely and allowed me to carry her down the ladder. I went straight for my truck, loading her into the passenger seat and then climbing behind the wheel. She scooted over as far as she could and leaned her wet cheek on my shoulder. I gathered her into a side hug and let her cry, hating myself for causing her such terror.

As I drove her back to the silo, I decided that we needed to have a family meeting ASAP. Even if it was nearly 11 PM.

The hatch in the maintenance bay was locked, so I lifted Rayne back into the car and drove around north, down the slope, and up the to garage door. I hopped out and pulled the door handle, sliding the whole thing up into the ceiling.

Nothing could have surprised me more than the sight that greeted me.

Two people whose silhouettes were the only thing I could make out in the darkness were standing at the entrance as if they had been waiting for us. Both of them were holding guns in shaky hands. Guns that were pointed at me.

It took all of our eyes our eyes a few seconds to adjust to the darkness and then Rachel dropped her gun with a sob and ran to the truck, pulling Rayne out and into a crushing embrace. Eric just leaned against the wall, relief on his face that quickly turned to purpose.

"I've got to contact Sarge and Maria! They need to know she's safe. They need to get back here ASAP." He said. He commandeered my truck, racing it around the corner and down the huge tunnel, screeching to a stop beside the control room entrance and bolting through the doors faster than I had ever seen him move.

I followed more slowly, keeping pace with Rachel, who had still not put Rayne down, into the main tunnel. Rachel was crying softly into Rayne's hair and Rayne looked bewildered and on the verge of tears herself.

" _What_  happened?" Did Nate and the others get caught? Do we need to evacuate? My body filled with dread and I nearly puked as I ran through all the possibilities. None of them had happy endings.

"She wouldn't let me go instead." Rachel was too overcome with tears to continue, but at that moment my cell phone started buzzing and beeping. Ah yes, the antenna silo was just a few feet away. It was apparently the only place in the area that had perfect reception.

I scanned the missed calls quickly. Nate had called me twice. Jess had called me once. Rachel had called me four times—and Sarge had called me 18 times.

My stomach filled with dread as I moved onto the text messages.

Nate, 6:23 PM: "Hey Burns! This drive is a breeze! All open country & empty highway. It's nice 2 get out. 2 hours & we'll b there. Keep us updated w everything u hear about these crazy humans in Colby. TTFN."

Jess, 6:27 PM: "Burns, you need to know, we passed your hardware store friend and I'm pretty sure he saw us. And Rob was driving like a maniac, so that probably isn't good."

Sarge, 7:04 PM: "When are you going to be back with Rayne?"

Sarge, 7:07 PM: "Please radio or text us. Eric's cameras picked up an unknown truck pulling into your driveway."

Sarge, 7:45 PM: "I'm coming over. I don't know what is wrong with your phone and radio, but something is not right."

Sarge, 7:56 PM: "Just tell me honestly. You owe me that much. Have you been discovered? Or started working for them?"

Sarge, 8:00 PM: "I'll be there in a few minutes. I'm heavily armed and have Maria in tow. If you've let Rayne get caught, I won't hesitate to kill you."

Rachel, 8:02 PM: "Burns, please answer us! Mama and Sarge have gone off on a rescue mission, but everything is fine, right?"

Sarge, 8:11 PM: "She's not in the cellar. The truck outside is from town, it has the hardware store logo on it. That's the guy you were telling us is so experience and clever, right?"

Sarge, 8:23 PM: "We have discretely searched the house and barn. Can't find either of you. Considering going to spy on the Seeker office to see if you and Rayne are there. Please respond. Why was your radio disabled?"

Nate, 8:32 PM: "These guys r geniuses & Jess is amazing. We hit the whole Seeker front line with sleep & then Jess managed 2 convince them 2 talk 2 her. 1 look her eyes & they bolted 4 our SUV, hauling more guns & ammo than I've ever seen in my life, screaming abt zombie apocolypses & how the rednecks would always b the best prepared. They're twins & huge & awesome. Trying 2 figure out how 2 explain u so ur not shot at 1st sight. On our way home."

Sarge, 8:47 PM: "Made it into town without being noticed. Seeker office has the lights on."

Rachel, 9:00 PM: "BURNS! You have to answer now! Sarge is about to storm the Seeker office and Mama can't put up much of a fight if they find her!"

Sarge, 9:15 PM: "My decision is made. I'm going in. I'll destroy this phone before I go. Maria is staying hidden in the bushes. If I can get Rayne out, Maria has promised to get her safely home."

Sarge, 9:16 PM: "Please tell Rayne, if she still is Rayne, that I love her and goodbye."

Rachel, 9:20 PM: "They're going to get themselves killed, or worse, captured. This is your fault."

Jess, 9:30 PM: "Just got word about Rayne. We'll be there as fast as we can, hour and a half out though. The Redneck twins will provide plenty of backup if needed."

Nate, 10:04 PM: "They r saying u betrayed us & turned Rayne in. I no that's not true. Just please, txt some1 back. Y is ur radio off? Home in 45, Rob is flooring it."

I had just finished reading the texts, getting more alarmed by the second, when my phone rang.

Unknown Number, 10:45 PM:

I answered it hesitantly. "Hello?"

Sarge's voice gurgled over the line. It sounded like he was drowning.

In seven words he ruined my entire world.

"They got us. Run for your lives!"

There was a shot, and then the line went dead.

My trembling hands lost their grip on the phone and it fell, shattering the screen.

Just like my life. Our lives. Completely shattered.


	38. Implication

I grabbed Rachel's shoulders roughly and turned her back toward the entrance of the tunnel. I looked her square in the eyes and gave her the most important job of her life.

"Take her and run. Don't stop for anything. Don't trust anyone. Use the gun if you need to, remember she's a good shot. I'll tell Eric to meet you in 2 hours by the old burnt barn on the northwestern corner of the property. If he doesn't show, you go without him. Your first priority is Rayne's safety. Meet me in two weeks, that's a Wednesday, at the rest stop up Canyon Road. You know where that is?"

Rachel just stared at me in horror. I gave her a little shake, "I said do you know where that is?"

She nodded her head a fraction of an inch.

"Repeat it back to me." I commanded.

Her voice shook, but she said, "burnt barn, two hours, run fast, two weeks, Canyon Road rest stop."

I nodded in satisfaction and pulled them both close for a hug, kissing Rayne's hair. Softly, I sang into her ear, "Rain, Rain, go away."

I released them and pushed Rachel toward the open fields, grateful that the moonless night would help hide them in the shadows. Rayne's eyes were wide with sudden understanding. She wiggled out of Rachel's arms and pulled her hand, but Rachel was frozen.

"RUN!" I shouted as I took off in the opposite direction. Rayne succeeded in getting Rachel's attention, and the two of them quickly disappeared into the night, the determined eight-year-old girl dragging a woman in her thirties who in some ways was as much a child as her companion.

Now Eric.

I fled down the long tunnel, cursing the engineer who decided that it needed to be nearly a half-mile long. I tore into the Control Center, breathless and determined.

Eric was sitting at his desk in one of the communications rooms, pulling a small external hard drive from a port in his computer. In a few quick motions he purged all the computers, leaving them to dump their data while we fled.

"I couldn't get ahold of Sarge. Maria had a radio, but when I called that, some snotty guy picked up. I'm assuming the worse." He pushed the external hard drive into my hands, "My whole world is on here. And your world too. This thing has information on it that will get us all killed. Take it and don't let it out of your sight."

I was surprised at his intense focus and trust in me. I took the hard drive wordlessly and zipped it into my coat.

"Take the hybrid. Meet the girls at the old burnt barn on the northwest corner of the property in 2 hours. Get them and run. Don't look back, don't wait for the rest of us. Your only priority is to keep those girls safe. Meet me in two weeks at the rest stop on Canyon Road. If I don't show, you make yourselves invisible. Forge passports or something and get as far away from here as you can. Don't tell anyone else about the fallback plan. If they get caught, they can't know how to find you. We have to keep Rayne safe."

Eric took a deep breath and nodded.

"The hybrid?" He questioned with an arched brow.

"It's already packed with survival gear to last you weeks, and it blends in with all the other tree-hugger cars."

He nodded in understanding and made for the Power House across the tunnel. We had quite a collection of cars hidden in there, ready for every occasion. Eric got the hybrid started and began to maneuver it out of the Power House and around the corner into the main tunnel. With a sudden burst of inspiration, I ran to Rayne's room in the Control Center.

_Please be here. Please be here. Please be here!_

Victory!

Rainbow, the beloved purple teddy bear, was sitting at a tiny table enjoying a spot of tea with Rayne's dolls. I grabbed him and rushed back toward where Eric was still slowly maneuvering the car around the tight turn. I banged on the window, which he rolled down, and tossed the bear onto the seat.

"You make sure she gets that. And tell her that Sarge loved her. Loves her. Tell her that he loves her."

Finally straightened out in the tunnel, Eric floored it as he escaped the tunnel too. I watched him go only for a second before I opened the door to the staircase leading to the hatch.

I took the stairs two at a time, my long legs covering the distance quickly. Seven flights later, I pulled the lever to open the blast doors. Not bothering to close them behind me, I pushed through the revolving door, and rushed up the spiral staircase to the hatch. I unlocked it and pushed it open.

Nate, Jess, and Rob descended on me in a moment. Their questions were so frantic and emotional that I just raised my hands to shush them so I could explain.

"I had a surprise guest tonight while I was taking care of Rayne. I hid her in the cellar, told her to stay put, and Andrew and I went to the north side of the property to do a little work. He'd seen you guys pull onto the highway and was convinced there was something worth investigating out this way. I spent some time questioning him and trying to distract him. He went home prepared to tell the Seekers that he suspected some humans had taken shelter in the old Prairie Winds Farm cottage on the hill, which, given the other options, I encouraged.

"He left and I went to retrieve Rayne, but she was gone from the cellar. I found her in the barn, asleep in the loft covered in kittens and hay. Apparently she slept through Maria and Sarge's search of the loft just a few hours before. Sarge and Maria jumped to conclusions after seeing Andrew's truck at my place and headed into town to confront the Seekers who they were sure had kidnapped Rayne while Andrew distracted me. They also considered that I had turned Rayne in myself. Anyway, I had turned the radios off so Andrew wouldn't hear anything he shouldn't, and you guys know about the shoddy cell reception around here.

"I got all your messages and missed calls at once, after I had returned Rayne safe and sound to the silo, albeit a few hours late. Then, just a few minutes ago, I got a call from an unknown number. It was Sarge, and he sounded bad. He said 'They got us. Run for your lives' so I pushed Rachel and Rayne out the door with instructions on who to meet where and when, and then I helped Eric evacuate. He had the good sense to purge all our computers, by the way, so for those of us who survive, our identities should still be safe. He is en route to pick up the girls and make a run for it. I'm afraid my dual-identity has been compromised as Sarge called my phone, presumably from a Seeker landline. One look at my phone records and this whole operation goes up in flames. If Maria or Sarge have been inserted, I am sure that they'll be here any minute, accompanied by the Seekers."

I sagged against one of the combine wheels in the equipment bay, exhausted and even more terrified now that I had put the situation into words. Nate took control of the situation as soon as I stopped talking, and I was relieved that someone else was in charge.

"Jess!" he shouted, even though she was only a few feet away from him, "Go meet up with the girls and Eric. They need you if they're going to survive. Take them to live in the cabin or something, we'll find you if we make it out of this alive."

I was relieved. I had been afraid that Jess would want to stay and fight. She did look a little perturbed by the situation, but as I embraced her in a tight hug, I whispered in her ear, "Take care of them, Jess. They won't survive without you. Rayne needs you."

It seemed a reminder of Rayne was all she needed. She kissed me on the cheek and ran toward the dark corner of the maintenance bay, patting the other guy's shoulders as she went. Ten seconds later, a dirt bike roared to life and angled toward us.

"Where will I find them?" She asked me. I guiltily looked around the room before approaching her and whispering in her ear: "Burnt Barn."

She nodded in understanding and disappeared in a swirl of dust, Cole coming out of the corner shadows to lope along behind her. I watched her until she was out of site and then I looked at the others guiltily. "I'm sorry, but if any of you are taken, I can't risk giving up Rayne's location."

They all nodded in understanding.

Suddenly two deep voices boomed from the shadows.

"Are ya really on our side, Parasite? These guys say we can trust you, but we're not so sure."

I jumped, having been totally unaware that there was anyone else present in the building.

Redneck twins. How had I forgotten.

They stepped into the light together, and I was speechless as I took it all in. They wore their greasy overalls over faded plaid shirts. One wore a Budweiser hat, the other a NASCAR one. Both wore sturdy boots and had large, well-worn hands. Each had a rifle slung on their back, a pistol in their belt, and a knife in their boot. A larger pile of weapons was behind them. The most impressive thing about them, though, was their size. Easily 250 to 300 lbs, the men were at least 6'8". They were well muscled though, and their enormous arms bulged through their XXXL shirts. Both appeared to be bald under the hats and they had toothy, yellowed smiles.

I contained my amazement and terror at the site of the Crazy Rednecks (as Nate had called them), and managed to respond with an even voice.

"Let's just get through tonight and then you can decide if you trust me, alright? We have to try to rescue Sarge and Maria. If their bodies were damaged enough, insertion could be delayed, and Sarge sounded pretty bad on the phone.

The twins looked at each other and then looked back at me. "Deal." They said, "but if you do something stupid, you die."

"No one will be dying tonight, except maybe a few Seekers" Rob said resolutely.

Nate nodded, "Burns is off limits. You have to understand that sometimes he has to act like them to blend in. I have no doubt that he'll be faithful to us till the end."

The twin consulted each other and then agreed with a shrug. For tonight at least, I was safe from them. The Seekers were a whole other story.

Headlights appeared in the distance and everyone stiffened.

"Okay everybody, this is how it's gonna work." Rob was taking over now as Nate surrendered combat strategy to him.

"Johnny and Davy, I want you to climb up on the equipment as high as you can. Do your best to remain hidden. Use those AR-15s with the scopes. If you have a shot, take it, but don't injure Sarge or Maria. We're taking them alive. Nate, you don't have much combat experience and I don't trust you with a gun, but I know you're good at throwing things." Nate smiled and mimed throwing an American football to Rob. "go over to the toolshed and grab everything that can be used as a flying weapon. Wrenches, hammers, bolt cutters, whatever. Burns, no offense, but you probably should have escaped with the women. Hide behind the equipment and if a situation comes up when we need your diplomacy, you'll have the floor, but until then, not a word."

I sighed in relief and went to crouch in the loader of the old tractor that was stored nearby, listening intently and occasionally peeking to see what was going on.

Rob grabbed another rifle from the large pile of weapons and positioned himself just behind of the support beams in the middle of the room. It was not wide enough to shield him completely, but it gave him the best view of what was coming.

With the headlights now turning onto the lane that led straight to the silos, Rob offered one more piece of advice: "if you get scared or find a moral gray area just remember who you're fighting for. Rayne. Jess. Rachel. That's what matters right now."

"And Eric!" Nate exclaimed from his position, "Don't forget that lovable guy!"

I heard Rob snicker, but no one else had the chance to reply. The headlights were blinding and the car doors were opening. I was surprised to see so many Seekers-our local office had only two. Maybe someone else had seen Rob driving like a crazy man and reported it. Three police cars emptied of Seekers, none of whom had guns any bigger than a pistol. The twins wasted no time, dropping the first four Seekers out of the cars with ease and precision. The Seekers, though armed, really had no chance. They had no combat training and it was clear the Redneck Twins had been shooting prairie dogs since they were old enough to keep their guns steady.

The passengers in the center car were moving more slowly, especially after seeing four of their comrades fall, but soon loud sobs reached our ears. Maria appeared, her wrists handcuffed together.

 _She was handcuffed?_  Was she still human?

But no. Some light reflected off one of the surfaces in the equipment bay and Maria's eyes glowed silver. Not human. The newly inserted Soul was still sobbing uncontrollably as her Seeker guard pushed her toward us. "Come on Ice Crystal, get ahold of yourself. Is your host's daughter here? What about the little girl? Do you know where we can find her?"

They knew about Rayne.

The air exploded in gunfire, most of it ours, some if it theirs, and even though part of me registered the completely barbaric act that was taking place around me, a dozen Soul Seekers murdered seemingly without a second thought, my whole focus was on Ice Crystal. Between her sobs she whispered words, not bothering to try with a melody. Amidst the chaos around her, Maria was focused completely on her task, clearly fighting Ice Crystal for the breath and strength to reach her goal, and as her words floated through the air toward me, a spark of hope ignited in my chest.

"Rain, rain, go away.

Come again another day,

Little Sally wants to play,

Rain, rain, go away."

Ice Crystal might have been inserted, but Maria Lupe Gallegos surely lived on. This was one human conscience that refused to die. And in possibly her final human act, she was forcing out words to a song. Words that warned of trouble. Words that were intended to save the life of a precious 8-year-old girl. But the words she whispered saved her life as well, because as I listened to her struggle to form each syllable, I realized the truth. Maria was still in there somewhere. And I could save her.


	39. Assassination

Maria was standing in front of the center Seeker vehicle, her hands bound in front of her, wailing at the top of her lungs. Around her, eleven Seekers lay dead or seriously injured. Behind her, one Seeker still stood, using the open car door for cover. He fired his small pistol once more from his hiding place before he jumped back into the car, threw it in reverse, and peeled off toward the road.

"He's out of bullets!" Rob shouted, rushing from his hiding place behind the support beam and running toward Maria. Nearby, I could hear Johnny and Davy, the redneck twins, dismounting the equipment they had used for cover. Once down, they too raced in Rob's direction. All three men ran past Maria, chasing the Seeker SUV that was trying to get away.

The car was too fast for them, though, and as if they had planned it, Rob, Johnny, and Davy skidded to a stop and each put their rifles up, aiming at the van. They fired within milliseconds of each other, and the back two tires of the escaping SUV exploded. The Seeker had not accumulated enough speed for the reaction to flip the car, but it wobbled precariously before coming to a stop.

I could sense Nate approaching my side, but I was concentrating on what I knew and who I knew myself to be. I added the details up in my mind, and forced myself to remain unemotional. Clinical. Factual. First, Maria was still conscious with Ice Crystal in her body. Second, I had chosen my side in this war and I had known casualties would come. Third, I could not save everyone. Fourth, right now I was the only person who could save Maria and the Soul inside her body.

So I blocked out the images of the bodies on the ground. I did not look at their faces or their guns or their frozen silver eyes. I just walked toward Maria. I was shaking; witnessing the deaths of 11 of my brothers and sisters, even ones who were trying to hurt my family, was almost more than I could bear. Giving Maria back her life, and saving a Soul at the same time was what I concentrated on. As I neared her trembling body, I called for Rob to come help. I was confident that the Redneck Twins could handle the runaway Seeker, probably in a way I did not want to watch, on their own. Rob turned without hesitation and the two of us met at Maria's side with Nate looking on from a few feet back.

She was still sobbing, gasping for breath. She raised tear-filled eyes to Rob's face and whispered, "Lo siento. Dígala que la amé. Digale que la amas."

She turned to me, and even more softly and painfully whispered, "Keep them safe, Burns."

I grasped her shoulders as belated love for this human woman rushed over me. She had done her best to save us, and I would do my best to save her. I looked into her silver eyes and said seriously, "Maria, this isn't goodbye. I'm going to get her out of there. I'm going to get you back. Rayne and Rachel need you. We all do. Just keep fighting."

Suddenly Maria's body wiggled out from under my hands, taking a few steps back. Her tears turned into a terrified look of comprehension. I knew without a doubt that Ice Crystal had taken control once again. Her silver eyes widened in fear and she hissed at me, fear and betrayal in her voice, "You are a traitor. A murderer."

My reply was delayed by my shock—she knew exactly what I had done. I _was_  a traitor.  _And_  a murderer. I opened my mouth up to try to explain, guilt flooding my voice.

"I love them," I admitted to my Soul sister, searching her eyes for understanding. I found no understanding or compassion there though, only defiance and determination. I registered her emotions too late. Too late to help her. Too late to stop her. Too late to save Maria. I watched in horror as her silver eyes flashed one last time and Maria's body slumped to the ground, blood trickling from her nose.

"NO!" I shouted as I fell to the ground beside her. "No! I could have saved you both!  _I could have saved you both!_ "

I shook her lifeless body, hoping, praying, wishing that she would awaken and be Maria again. That she would scold Rayne for her bad table manners and stick her nose up at Eric's cooking. That she would glare at Rob anytime he gave Rachel too much attention. That she would have crazy tirades in a language I did not understand and huff off in anger, without me ever knowing what the problem was in the first place. That she would continue to distrust me, but would hang around anyway for the sake of Rayne and Rachel.

But that would never happen again. Ice Crystal's suicidal act had killed them both.

Rob did not yet understand, he was kneeling beside her body, his hand on her face trying to stop the bleeding, gently trying to wake her up.

"She's gone, Rob." I whispered, my voice cracking with emotion, "Ice Crystal killed her. She severed her spinal cord and sliced through her brain. There's nothing we can do. Nothing I can do. I'm so sorry. This is my fault."

"S'not your fault. I'm the one who was driving the damn SUV like an idiot human." Rob responded, his voice hoarse as he looked away.

I shook my head as wet tears fell down my cheeks. So many things had gone wrong tonight, it was impossible to determine the true person to blame.

I sighed, weary with exhaustion and emotional overload. This was just too much. The girls and Eric escaping, Rob and the rednecks killing, Maria dying, and Sarge getting caught and likely severely injured.

I jumped to my feet, overcome by a sudden realization. Sarge! If we got to the Seeker station that doubled as an emergency insertion location quickly, there was a possibility that we could still save him. If his injuries were bad enough, they would have let the body heal before inserting a Soul. And his injuries had sounded awful.

"We have to go the Seeker station right now." I said urgently to Rob, grabbing his shoulder to shake him out of his reverie.

"I know," he sighed, "We have to make sure that we kill or capture every Seeker who saw or talked to Sarge or Maria. We have to make sure your true identity and loyalty and our compound are still safe. We have to make sure not a single shred of evidence is left pointing at this farm." He said it mechanically. Totally void of emotion. His shoulders slumped in defeat, in no way giving me confidence that he believed this plan would work.

"No! Well, I mean, we may need to do that too, hopefully not the killing part, but don't you understand? If Sarge did enough damage to himself before getting caught, they would have delayed the insertion until he was fully healed. He could still be there! Human!"

Rob looked up stunned.

Strategist that he was, Rob had already planned out a way to keep the remaining members of our family safe. The lives of everyone in our group depended on us cleaning this mess up without any more suspicion from the Seekers or Souls in town, and Rob already had a plan for that. But Rob had not realized, or maybe he had not understood, that there was still hope for Sarge.

"We can still save him." I insisted.

I could see him working out details in his head as he accepted my declaration.

After a moment, Rob stepped forward, his features sober and determined. He addressed the Redneck Twins first, "Johnny, Davy, take care of the bodies. We can't leave any evidence that this happened out here. Load them into the SUV, since we'll never be able to use it again, and get it as far away from here as possible. Be discrete. Use the back roads. Don't speed like I did and do what you need to do to dispose of the evidence. You have people counting on you, so don't blow your cover. We'll meet you at dawn in two days where I-70 crosses into Kansas. In the meantime, Burns, Nate and I have a job to do."

The twins nodded in understanding, similar looks of determination on their faces. As Rob turned to address Nate and me, the twins moved past us, carrying a broken and bloody body. Two bodies, actually, if you counted the human and the Soul, which I did. Unable to keep my composure any longer, I cringed, gagged, and turned around to vomit.

Nate rested an understanding hand on my shoulder as I doubled over and heaved, but Rob's eyes were stone cold and resolute. He grabbed some guns and turned to climb into the backseat of my truck, preparing to crouch down so he could not be seen.

From his spot in the truck he addressed Nate and me. His tone and glare were absolutely deadly as he spoke to us through clenched teeth, "Nate, get in the truck. Burns, you're driving. Come on, let's go get Sarge away from those bloody Seekers."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Maria said to Rob: "I'm sorry. Tell her that I loved her. Tell her that you love her." Hopefully I translated it right :/


	40. Extradition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Okay, I know, I know! I'm SO late. And I'm really sorry. I told a couple of you that I'd have this out days ago, but things just weren't working. Hopefully this chapter is worth the wait. I can't wait for one or two of you to point out all the errors of my storyline :) Anyway, love to you all, thanks for being such awesome, faithful readers. I've already got plans for next couple of chapters, and some backround fics will be coming out soon of other characters, as well as a long-awaited Jess POV story that wlll take place inside GN :) Give me some time though, my muse has been missing.

Nate was crouched in the front seat of my truck and Rob was behind us, also shrinking out of view. Both were holding guns, and both were deathly silent.

The silence was not good. It allowed me to think. As I drove into town, my mind played back images of this horrible night. Andrew's truck. Rayne's tears. Rachel dropping her gun and grabbing Rayne sobbing. Eric's determination to protect our identities and the hard drive that weighed down my coat pocket. Rainbow, the purple teddy bear. Jess riding off into the night on a dirt bike, Cole on her heels. Dead Seekers and their dead human hosts. One more dead Soul. And worst of all, Maria's lifeless eyes staring back at me after her Soul took both their lives.

My stomach heaved with the thoughts, the images of blood, but I had already emptied my stomach of all its contents, so dry heaves wracked my shoulders. This night had gone so wrong. So terribly wrong.

I was begging every higher power I had ever head of that Sarge would still be human. That he could be saved.

The drive into town was not long enough for me to work through all my thoughts and my feelings. Before I knew it, we were approaching the Seeker Station at the edge of town. I had my lights off—no reason to wake the whole town—and I parked on the side of the building where my truck would not be easily seen. One squad car was parked in front, and the lights were on inside.

I put the truck in park and turned to Rob awaiting instruction. I was far beyond rational thought. If I was going to contribute to this rescue, Rob was going to have to tell me what to do, my emotions were on overdrive and I could not handle much more.

"Okay, we need to assume that our identities are all out there, that they know that Burns is harboring humans, and that they know everything about us. We need to destroy evidence and see if Sarge is savable. Everyone on board?" Rob looked at Nate and me seriously, his tone and facial expression leaving no doubt about just how dangerous this mission could be. There was so much counting on our ability to cover our tracks.

Nate and I nodded wordlessly, and Rob reached into his belt and shoved a pistol into my hand. I let it drop onto the seat and stared at Rob wordlessly, just shaking my head. Nothing they could do would make me shoot someone. Not ever.

"For self-protection." Rob encouraged as he prepared to get out of the car.

Nate gave me a sympathetic glance and reached for the gun, pushing it into his belt. "I'll carry it for you, but if you need it, you can't hesitate."

I nodded, having no intention of ever needing it, but willing to make Rob and Nate happy by making them believe I would use it.

The three of us exited the truck silently, leaving the doors open and ready for a quick get-away. Rob did his best James Bond impersonation as he approached the front door and glanced through the blinds at the lit-up office. He motioned for Nate and I to join him, which we did.

Rob rounded the side of the building in his regular 007 way, crouching, making complicated hand gestures that I did not understand. I understood enough to be discrete and quiet though. The Seeker station was on the edge of town, a crumbling building of brick and mortar that had once been the town jail. Now I could clearly see one Seeker sitting at the desk, anxiously checking every radio channel in turn. He was intent on his task—surprising him would be easy.

Beyond him in an old cell-turned-hospital room, a hospital bed stood. I could see the outline of a cryotank and a plan began to form in my mind. I motioned to Rob silently. He sort of rolled his eyes at me, but leaned close as I whispered my plan. "I think Sarge is still human and there is at least one cryotank over there. We could remove the Soul from the Seeker and see if the human wakes up and helps us out.

Rob's eyes widened as he took in what I said.

"We can take the Souls out?"

I held back a shiver as I realized what telling Rob this news meant, "Yes, well, maybe. I don't know if the human will still be there, but it's worth a shot, right?

Nate nodded vehemently. "Yes, let's capture this guy, get him talking, and then see if he's still human.

Rob nodded his agreement and he whispered to Nate, "Cover me."

Rob eased the door open—it was unlocked of course—and silently entered the building. The door creaked as it opened and the Seeker shot up from his chair, his hand fumbling for his pistol, which was hanging in its holster on the coat rack by the door while his other hand pressed through the radio buttons frantically. His silver eyes were full of fear, Rob's gun had been centered on his chest since the moment he stepped through the door.

Seeing the gun, the Seeker froze, his hands raised in surrender.

"So it's true. Burns has been helping the human resistance." He said, his eyes looking at me sadly. I could not handle the judgment in his eyes and looked away.

"Burns has saved lives, embraced us for who we are, and has saved us when you freaks tried to kill us. He's more of a man, more of a Soul, more of a human than you'll ever be." Nate spat out, his face turning determined as he too focused his weapon on the Seeker's head.

I barely noticed Nate's accolades as I sized up the situation in the rest of the room. There was beeping coming from behind the hospital curtain and two cryotanks rested on the windowsill, one of them dark and empty, the other glowing red, in use.

"What is the status of Sarge?" Nate asked immediately, gesturing toward the cell and occupied bed inside it.

The Seeker's voice was short, clipped in annoyance, "His wounds were too severe for an immediate insertion. We are awaiting the arrival of a more skilled Healer from Denver."

"And when will he be here?" Nate pressed.

The Seeker's eyes hardened, "Before you'll be able to leave. And I would rather die than betray my species." His silver eyes flashed toward me and I reddened.

Rob nodded, "Okay then, you're no longer needed." The Seeker's eyes widened, but he held his ground. Despite his initial fear, he was brave. Rob turned to me, "Forget what he said Burns, you aren't betraying them. Just grab the sleep and let's get this show on the road."

I sighed as I walked toward where Sarge was lying still. His heartbeat was steady on a monitor where his blood pressure and O2 stats also registered. He was pale and covered in bandages. I looked away. I had other things to think about now. In a cabinet, I quickly found all the supplies I needed, the Sleep, the Heal, the Smoothe, the Inside Clean, a Chux pad, and a scalpel. I turned back toward Nate, Rob, and the Seeker, and looked the Seeker directly in the eyes.

"Do not fear us, we are not here to kill you, simply to set the human inside of you free. You will go on to live many lives."

The Seeker's eyes turned questioning and then blank as I sprayed the Sleep in his face. Nate was ready to catch him and the two of us lay him on his stomach. As soon as he was down, Rob stepped outside to keep watch while Nate assisted me. I worked quickly, not exactly hiding what I was doing from Nate, but not explaining it either.

"Nate, grab the cryotank from the windowsill in the cell. The one without any lights on."

Nate quickly did so, and returned to my side. "Flip the latch on the side and then spin the dial until the light is blue." Soon I could feel the cool air of the cryotank as it wafted toward me. I sanitized my workspace the best I could. The Inside Clean would catch anything I missed.

I opened the Seeker's neck by tracing his insertion line. Once it was open and bleeding, I inserted my fingers and felt around. The exact maneuvers were different with every species and I had first learned on Fire World. I was not 100% certain how to do it here. I found the nodules after a few minutes of looking, and with very little coaxing, the Soul eased itself from the human body. As soon as all its attachments were cleared, I caught it and passed it to Nate, who looked on with wonder.

"This is what you look like Burns?"

"Yep, just a little silver worm." I said in disgust.

"That's awesome." Nate whispered as he looked at me with a smile, awaiting further instructions.

"Just ease it into the cryotank, and then close it up and turn the dial until it's red. That means that it's full and hibernation is in effect."

Meanwhile, I turned my attention back to my human patient. I used the Clean and Heal and then wiped away the blood, cleansing the surface. Next I rubbed on some Smooth and I double checked my work. I gathered up my supplies and discarded the Chux pad, sanitizing my hands with some nearby hand gel.

Nate returned the full cryotank to the windowsill and the two of us met back at the human body lying prone on the floor.

"Do we just leave him until he wakes up?"

"I don't know. I've never done this before. He might not wake up at all. Maybe we should turn him over."

We did that quickly, and the Seeker-turned-human continued to breathe evenly but not wake up. As an afterthought I sprayed some Inside Clean in his face.

Without the Soul in his body, the man was somehow easier for me to look at. I knew I had done a good thing in freeing him, I only hoped he would wake up. He was in his mid twenties, younger than me, but older than Jess. His face had a shadow of unshaven hair, and his hair, which was a dark blonde, was cut short. His eyes, now without any hint of Soul Silver, would be a light blue. He was well built, but still small, though not as small as Rob, and his muscles gave the impression of an athletic background. He was tanned, and his clean nails, hair, and face gave me the impression that he, or his Soul, was meticulous about his appearance. I was not a judge of male looks, but something told me that Jess and Rachel would consider this man good looking. For some reason that irked me.

We left the good-looking human there as we updated Rob. The three of us decided that we could not wait for the Healer to get here—we must spend our time loading everything in the office into the truck and preparing to capture the Healer and his companions.

Rob kept watch outside while Nate and I grabbed all the computers. We ignored cords and monitors—Eric had all that—and focused just on hard drives. We also grabbed the paper files, radio logs, handheld radios, and everything else that looked important. We permanently disabled—well, Nate went after them with a jackknife—any and every electrical outlet, phone jack, and internet jack in the place. I emptied the Healer cabinet and we rolled Sarge's bed out into the night and lifted it into the truck, much like we would have loaded it into an ambulance. We carried the Seeker-now-human and laid him on a blanket beside Sarge. As my final act, I carefully loaded the two full cryotanks into the passenger seat of the truck—I had no idea what I was going to do with them, but they could not stay here where the Seekers could insert them into hosts and find out information about us. The backseat was full of computer equipment, so Rob and Nate would be riding in the back with the two unconscious men while my cryotank companions and I sat up front.

It was 3 AM and the office was completely cleared out. We had managed to leave the town residents undisturbed and were all clear as far as Rob could tell. Now we just had to wait.

At about 3:45 some moaning had me clambering into the back of the truck to see what was going on. The Seeker-now-human was waking up!

I rested a hand on his arm and spoke softly to him,

"Sir, I need you to remain calm and quiet. We have just removed an alien from your spinal cord. It was controlling your body. Do you know where you are or who you are?"

The man blinked at me several times like he recognized me but could not place me, then his eyes grew wide in understanding.

"You're the traitor!" His voice was loud, too loud.

Nate shoved himself up beside me and gave the man a glare, "Shhh! He's not a traitor, he saved your life. Now we have limited time, tell us everything you know."

The man looked like he was at war with himself—I knew the feeling—but after a moment he began to speak: "My name is Sean. I was inserted with Icterine in Denver about 2 months ago. He was from a place with flowers. I was aware of the invasion before my insertion, but did not escape in time to avoid being caught. I remember moments when I could speak to my Soul, but for the most part, I was just…somewhere else. Seeker Icterine has been working here since my insertion. They had no idea that you were a traitor, Burns," he winced as the word traitor escaped again, but continued on,

"You had them totally fooled. When that man came in here, they thought he was a wild human, maybe one who was traveling through, and that the woman was his mate. He shot himself multiple times to avoid capture and then made a phone call and whispered the word rain before he shot himself one last time and lost consciousness. The woman, however, we were able to capture without any harm to the host at all. She would not speak, but insertion went smoothly and after tracing the number the man called to your cell, we loaded up all the Seekers that were on their way home from Kansas and headed out to your place. They left me here but the radio went dark as soon as they got a few miles away, and cell reception here sucks, so…"

He stopped as Nate and I began to chuckle, and then full out laugh, tears streaming down our cheeks. How well we knew that cell reception sucked. It was not funny, but we were so tired that it was.

Nate took the interruption to ask a few questions,

"Do they know for sure that Burns is involved? Have other Seeker posts been notified of the situation? This Healer that is coming, is he coming with a team or by himself? What do we need to do in order to protect our hiding place on Burn's farm?"

"Ummm, well, they suspected Burns, but didn't want to put his name out on the wire and spread rumors that might not be true, so they just decided to investigate and update the report with names later. Right now it's blank with the exception of the explanation about the man and the woman and the phone call, but no number was recorded. There was a guy here who was sure that Burns was innocent, some local dude, so we were being careful. So as far as I know, other Seeker posts just know we had an incident, they aren't aware of Burns' involvement. The Healer is a woman and we contacted her directly. She was the one on call. If I had to guess, she'll be coming here alone and probably soon. As far as protecting your place, Burns needs to get back there and pretend like everything is alright, and you guys need to get the hell out of dodge. And maybe take me with you."

Sean had barely said his last word when Rob hissed at us from outside. "Lights! The Healer is here, Burns, you need to get out here and pretend to be a Seeker!"

I gave Sean a pat on the hand, grabbed a container of sleep, and gave Nate a 'might as well' look as I hopped out of the truck. Nate stayed where he was and Rob jumped into the front seat.

"If anything happens, you take them and go, don't worry about me. We'll figure out how to help Sarge." I told him through the window, "You come home anytime, I'll always have a place for you here, and you keep them," I indicated toward the two cryotanks on the seat, "safe." Rob only nodded as he crouched inside the truck. Just before she pulled up, I turned once more, "Two weeks, rest stop on canyon road. Two days, Kansas border."

Rob looked at me sadly and nodded. He understood.

A small car pulled up in front of the Seeker station. A nice looking woman in her sixties hopped out as if she was decades younger, and she pulled a medical bag behind her. I rounded the corner of the building and worked on forming a smile.

"Hello Healer, I am Seeker Icterine, thank you so much for coming out so late."

She reached for my hand and gave me a rough shake, "Healer Dawn. Pleasure ta meet'cha. Where's the patient?"

"He's human."

The woman looked at me like I was daft, "Yes, I'm aware of that Seeker, it makes no difference to me, I'm healing the body, not the Soul."

"Okay then," I said, sizing up her attitude and deciding to take a chance—I couldn't be the only human-sympathizer, right? "He's over here, we're preparing to transport him to a safer location." I led her around the building and away from the emptied-and-trashed Seeker Station. She walked right up to the back of the truck without a touch of fear, and after several minutes of silently surveying the situation, she turned to me, "So what's the deal here, I heal him and you kill me? I don't heal him and you kill me?"

"You heal him and come with us, become part of our family. Or I can remove you from your host and put you into hibernation, send you somewhere else." I told it to her straight, I had a feeling she'd appreciate that.

"Okay then. I've lived my life here, it's time to move on, and Dawn will appreciate some breathing room. Send me somewhere with color, will ya?" She climbed up in the truck, edging a speechless Nate out of her way, knocking his gun onto the floor as she did so. "If you don't know how to use it, lose it." She lectured, and then went to work on Sarge. She used things from both her bag of supplies and the ones I had gathered inside, and in twenty minutes, Sarge was blinking in confusion.

"Welcome back old-timer. Looks like it's my time for moving on, but it was a pleasure to have healed you." She turned to me next, "I understand why you're doing what you're doing, but I don't agree with it. That doesn't change that I'm a Healer through and through. If you'll knock me out now, I'd like to wake up somewhere with flowers a couple hundred years from now. Dawn can handle the care of this guy here." She gestured toward Sarge, "He'll be tired for quite some time, but is out of the woods."

Rob had emerged from the cab of the truck and was watching what was going on with amazement. The Healer took one look at him and said "Army?"

He nodded numbly.

"You carry your gun well. Teach that idiot in there to do the same or you end up with someone killed. My host served multiple tours as a nurse in the army."

I just shook my head before asking, "Are you sure?"

She looked at me and nodded her head firmly, so I nodded back and raised the sleep to her face. "Sleep well, my friend, may you have many happy lives." I caught her gently as she fell and held back a sob that I wasn't sure where came from.

Inside the truck I heard Sarge say one word.

"Rayne?"

"Safe." Nate whispered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Okay, confession, I cannot kill multiple characters. It's SOOOO hard for me. I have some character deaths planned for a long time from now and I'm already dreading them, but I couldn't let Sarge go like that, I just couldn't. I love Rayne too much.
> 
> Please review and tell me A) If this chapter worked and B) if you've seen The Host yet and what you thought (They didn't do the "Gone Native" thing, and he wasn't a redhead! Gah! Basis for this story, now obsolete... books are always better anyway).


	41. Complication

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Well, it wasn't up as soon as I wanted it to be and it's still not complete. The next chapter will continue the Burns/Jess issue. If you haven't already, check out this scene (and the scene from the next chapter) from Jess's POV in my new story Burning Up. Also, I've started a series of one-shots all centered around Rayne. They show how everyone views her and how she keeps our rebel band of humans laughing and loving. It is called Sunshine on a Cloudy Day and so far has Sarge's chapter and Eric's chapter. Anyway, I'm sorry I didn't finish the whole Jess/Burns scene, it's been hard to even get this much written! I'll do my best to get it out soon. Love you all and thanks in advance for the reviews, they make me force myself to write, even when my muse is missing :)

It was time for Nate, Rob, Sarge, Dawn, and Sean to go their own way while I went mine. It made me nervous, but I could see no alternative.

The Healer had had extra cryotanks in her car, so I managed her extraction quickly and carefully. Her host woke up almost immediately, crying out.

"Where is she? Where is she!" She sat straight up from the floor in the Seeker Station where I had done the procedure and looked at me with clear, green eyes. "Where is the Healer?"

I held up the glowing cryotank and the human snatched it from my hands. "Did you start the hibernation sequence correctly? Is this thing charged?"

I was surprised by her concern, but nodded that I had done everything correctly. She carefully set the cryotank down, took a deep breath, and then extended her hand.

"I'm Dawn. I've been living with Healer Dawn for most of the last ten years. We were friends, but she never would have skipped out, so thanks for givin' me the chance to live the rest of my life as a civilian."

"You were friends?" I asked incredulously.

"When you're living in the same head as someone else, you either become enemies or friends. D and I, we were a team. She had all the Soul Healing knowledge and I had all the spunk. I'm going to miss her, but it's nice to have my head back. Feels a bit empty." She said, reaching a hand up to push back her graying hair. "But I know she'll be happy on another planet where she gets to keep her thoughts to herself. Can we send her to the Flowers?"

I stared at her. It had not really occurred me to send these extracted Souls off to other worlds. In reality, most of them were so far away that my grandchildren would be long gone, but was it worth the risk? The Souls would stay alive in hibernation, I could just keep them in the Silo… It was an interesting predicament, but for this Soul, for this Healer, perhaps a trip to the Flowers was not out of the question. She had allowed Dawn to have her body back and had surrendered willingly. Yes. A trip to the Flowers sounded perfect for her. I nodded my consent.

Dawn nodded back, "Thanks, she appreciates it. Now what is the situation here?"

"Well, our hiding spot, which is my farm a few miles away, was discovered through a series of unfortunate events, but we think we have the situation contained with you and Sean now human and all the equipment loaded into the backseat of the truck. I've got the cryotanks in a safe place and it looks like we're going to be splitting up. You humans are going to go pick up the twins in Kansas and I'm going to stay here and wait for everyone to get back, acting like normal."

My heart fell as I realized I would not be able to join my companions and keep them safe. The best thing I could do for them is keep our cover in Deer Trail up, and that meant staying.

Dawn nodded. "We should take my car with the humans, and you should take the Seeker car and hide it. That thing'll be useful someday. I don't think we should waste any time, it's nearly morning. I'll ride in the back with Sarge, Rob can drive the truck, and Sean and Nate should follow in my car."

Rob was standing behind her, his eyes still wide with amazement, but he nodded at her plan, "I was going to suggest the same thing."

"Of course you were soldier, we army-types all think alike." She slapped his arm and hopped into the back of the truck with surprising agility. "Let's get this show on the road, boys, go get in the car, we're goin' to Kansas!"

Sean and Nate descended from the back of the truck and climbed into the car, giving Dawn disbelieving looks but obeying her none-the-less. I gathered all three full cryotanks and set them carefully on the seat in the Seeker vehicle. Then I grabbed the car's keys from the office and stood by the door, watching Rob, Nate, Sean, Sarge and Dawn all leave.

Once they were on the Interstate and out of sight, I opened the door of the smooth Seeker vehicle and surveyed the interior. A badge was on the dash, and the standard radio and computer equipment was there, as well as a handbook on how to be a good Soul Seeker. I ignored it all, putting it into drive and quietly returning to my home.

I got home, hid the Seeker vehicle, and walked in my front door at 4 AM holding all three cryotanks. For the first time in nearly a year I was alone. No Rayne. No Jess. No Nate.

Just me in a huge farmhouse all by myself-well, all by myself except the three Souls I was now guardian of. I placed the cryotanks in the cool cellar, labeling them so I knew who was who and then returned to my kitchen to brainstorm.

Somehow I had to convince the Seekers that I had nothing to do with any of this, despite all the blood over by the silo and the fact that at 10:45 PM Sarge had called my cell phone from the Seeker Office. That was after the time that Andrew and I had parted ways, so as far as they all knew I was alone at that time. Or being held hostage.

Held hostage. Brilliant. I knew that Rob had an old pair of handcuffs lying around somewhere in the barn as part of one of his many emergency kits. No key, but that would be a problem for later.

It only took me 10 minutes to find the handcuffs. Rob was very organized when it came to things like this. Must be an army thing.

My cell phone had been ruined during that 10:45 call—I'd dropped it and it'd shattered. It was still in the tunnel of the silo, so I would have to retrieve it, pull out the battery, and get rid of it as soon as possible. But not now. Now I would do my best hostage impression and hope it was believable.

By 5 AM I had my plan nearly complete. First, I attached my ankles with duct tape to the chair legs. Then, with some maneuvering, I managed to hang the duct tape on the vertical paper towel roller on the counter and wound myself to the chair. Using my long arms, I maneuvered myself until I retrieved the duct tape, put a slab over my mouth and finally taped one hand to the arm of the chair and used the handcuffs to attach myself to one of the old looped doorknobs that led into the kitchen.

Now I just had to wait for rescue, and if I knew Andrew, he would be here at 6 AM sharp. Which was in 10 minutes. Thank goodness, because I was already uncomfortable.

So I waited. 6 AM passed. So did 7. Then 11. Then it was 3 PM and I really had to pee. Then it was 8 PM I couldn't hold my bladder any longer and I was suddenly regretting what we did to those poor Souls up in the mountains the day we found Rob and Jess. I hoped they had been rescued sooner. I nodded off, my head falling down and I searched for something to lean against so I could sleep. Where was Andrew? A headache was coming on strong and I realized that I may have done something stupid. Really stupid. I hadn't even gotten myself some water or food in case this lasted a long time.

3 AM came around again. Then 5. Finally just after 6 AM and 24 hours after my self-induced torture, a loud knock sounded at my door.

Andrew.

Thank God.

I made noise, banging my chair against things and shouting through my duct taped mouth. I felt tears streaming down my face as my body realized that help was on the way. No worries about me being able to be dramatic here, my relief at my rescue was incredibly real.

I heard the door opened and quick footsteps made their way through the house. Upon seeing me, Andrew let out a gasp and immediately began removing my shackles. I was so overcome that I was weeping, which was good because talking would probably get me in trouble. I needed to see what had happened in the last 24 hours before I did anything stupid or let anything slip.

"What happened?" Andrew demanded.

 _Keep it simple, keep it uncomplicated._ I told myself.

"Humans. You were right. They were hiding in here when I got home from digging the ditch with you. I think they said they were headed to town, is everyone alright? I heard gunshots."

Andrew's face sobered. At this point we have no confirmation, but we suspect that at least 12 Seekers and one Healer are either dead or captive."

I shuddered. I felt sick, but it was not because of Andrews grief, it was because it sounded like our ruse had worked.

Andrew was on my home phone, calling in Seekers and a Healer. They would search, but if we had done our jobs right, they would find nothing. No human evidence at all. The silo was well hidden.

I coughed to get Andrew's attention again and said, "Do you think I could go up and shower?"

Andrew took one look at my soiled pants and nodded. "I'll get some breakfast started."

I climbed the stairs slowly, weakly. The warm shower was so welcome, and in 20 minutes I was sitting back in the kitchen with Andrew. I noticed he had cleaned all evidence of my entrapment and had eggs, bacon, and hash browns cooking on the stove. I inhaled appreciatively. Breakfast was always my favorite meal. I decided to do a little careful interrogating of my own and find out what had happened yesterday.

"So what happened?"

"Well, two humans, a male and a female, attacked the Seeker station two nights ago, right around when I left here. They were heavily armed and probably would have gotten away except some Seekers Denver sent to Wyoming were on their way back and had stopped for a quick break. They inserted a Soul into the woman, but the man had done his best to ruin himself for us, he clearly knows all about what we do, so we were forced to wait for the healing medications to take effect before we inserted him too. The Seekers took the woman, who wasn't talking, out and found the car she had been using. She seemed at war with herself, spouting out random words and then biting her lips to keep them closed. A Seeker who was with us said he'd seen it before. A resistant host. The human was still conscious and fighting the Soul for rights to body function! Imagine that! They decided that time was too precious to waste, so they just stuck her in a car and started driving. An SUV, the one I had mentioned earlier, was parked in front of your grain silos out there, and as I understand it, a huge firefight went down. No idea how many humans they shot, but all of our men were killed, including the newly inserted Soul. It looks like the humans took off after that. I drove east for a while, but I saw no sign of them, and then the replacement Seekers arrived for the official investigation and I have been trying to stay out of their way ever since. I just drove around on my own looking for any sign of the humans yesterday. When the Seekers reported no sign of you, I assumed you had turned and helped the humans. I was so wrong. I am so sorry I doubted you Burns, I would have been here yesterday if I hadn't been trying to chase humans in Kansas."

He looked at me with such sincerity; I felt ashamed and lowered my gaze. If only he knew the truth.

Andrew served up breakfast and I ate like a starving man. The Seekers arrived just as soon as I was finishing and Andrew seemed determined to be a mediator and protector, considering all I had been through. Seekers were not known for their tact.

For every question they asked, Andrew answered for me, and I let him. He was covering up our tracks brilliantly, and I only had to nod to agree to his statements.

Until the last question.

"Burns Living Flowers, can you please describe the humans who attacked you?

"Um," I hesitated, feigning exhaustion, "There were four of them. All men. Big guys. They had masks on, but their skin was rough. Like they worked outside. It sounded like they were all related or from the same area of the country. They had funny accents. Some kind of Southern."

"Is that all you can remember?"

"Yes." I paused for effect, "No, wait, they all had matching tattoos. They were flags. Texan flags." I hoped this bit of information would send them so far south that they did not bother my family again.

The Seeker nodded in approval. "Now Burns I suggest you get some rest. We'll take care of things from here. You don't have to worry about any more attacks. We're certain they won't return here."

I nodded and took that as my excuse to climb the stairs and fall into bed. I couldn't help but notice that Nate and Rob had a lucky streak of escaping Seekers. Part of it was me, but really, those two beat the odds every time.

The next day I went back to work, getting up way too early and turning in way too late. I tried to keep too busy to think. Too busy to wonder. Too busy to worry. It didn't work.

On week after my human family had left—the halfway point—I got up extra early so I could make it to the far northern fields. I worked until about 3 and then decided that I was too exhausted to continue. I turned toward home, looking forward to a long shower and a nice bowl of stew that one of the ladies from town had dropped off. All my neighbors seemed terrified of my "ordeal" and were insistent upon giving me stuff. Mostly food. I didn't complain. I was too stressed to remember to eat normally and these farm wives were excellent cooks.

As I pulled into the driveway I saw an unexpected and familiar sight. Cole was lying on the front doormat and he was looking at me intently. Instantly knowing something was wrong, I parked the tractor in the driveway and took the porch steps two at a time. For the first time ever Cole greeted me affectionately, putting his paws on my chest and looking into my eyes. I ran my hands down his fur to reassure him and stopped with I felt the paper. A letter. Cole was acting as a messenger dog.

I carefully pulled the note, untying it from his collar. It read:

_Dear B,_

_We're sorry if we've put you in more danger by sending J and C to you, but we didn't know what else to do. J got sick three days ago and has gotten progressively sicker. She is having difficulty speaking and moving, and is delirious most of the time. The meds aren't working. She needs help. I'm so worried. She's hidden in the same spot you hid R. Please help her._

_R_

In that moment I knew Soul-clenching agony. Jess was sick. Possibly dying.

"Good boy." I said as I gently pushed Cole off of me and then wretched open the door to my house. I made it to the cellar at a run and lifted the hatch quickly. Pulling the string to turn on the overhead light, I found Jess all bundled up, shivering, and pale as death.

My heart was racing as I hopped down into the cellar. Reaching for her, I was relieved to find that she was somewhat responsive. She was burning up though, and her delirious mumbling had me scared. I gathered her into my arms, leaving the quilts behind, and carefully carried her up the stairs. I jostled her a bit as I maneuvered the trap door and she awakened for a second. I spoke softly too her, trying to soothe her.

"Don't worry Jess, I've got you. I'm going to help you. You're home now." At the word "home" she pressed herself closer to my side and murmured "home." I let a breath out of relief and responded in a choked up voice, "You are home Jess. Don't worry. I'll take care of you."

A compulsion I didn't understand and couldn't control had me lean foreword and press my lips to her forehead. She fell limp, once again asleep, and I turned my focus to getting her into bed, refusing to allow myself to anticipate the worst.

She felt feather-light as I carried her in my arms up the steep stairs and carefully set her down on her bed that she had slept in before she moved to the silo. She was already in her nightgown so I pulled back the blankets and tucked her in. She didn't even stir as I arranged her bedding, nor did she respond when I once again kissed her warm forehead.

Exhausted from the emotions of the moment and my long day, I sat in the chair in the corner of the room for a moment, just looking at her. I had no idea how to heal her. Rachel had a first aide kit so obviously the normal remedies were not enough. Should I track down Rob and the Healer? Ask around town? Look it up on the internet? Try to heal her myself with what I could find at the Thriftway pharmacy? I had no idea what she was sick with and even less of an idea of what to do about it. I felt totally helpless, and that made me sick.

My Jess could not,  _would not_  die. It was not an option.


	42. Cumulation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I promised you all some fluff, and then I started writing and I realized that I suck at writing fluff... suggestions are welcome.

She slept for twelve hours without stirring. I debated letting her sleep and waking her up to feed her and settled with letting her sleep. Unable to leave her, I created a pallet beside her bed, and with Cole on the floor at her feet keeping watch and me asleep on the floor, the two of us getting along for the first time because our purpose was the same. Save Jess.

At some point I fell asleep and I woke with a start when water was poured on my head. I sat up to find Jess looking horrified as her shaking hand tried to clean up the mess. I ignored the issue of the wetness altogether and simply asked her if she wanted more water. Her head moved to nod but did not complete the movement—that concerned me. Was her muscle control part of the sickness? She seemed excessively weak.

I quickly descended to the kitchen and got a glass of water as well as some crackers and a bowl of canned peaches. She barely opened her eyes as she weakly sipped the water from the straw. The effort exhausted her and she fell back on the pillow, quickly falling back asleep. Her lips formed the words "Thank you" and I couldn't resist pressing a kiss to her forehead once more, whispering "You're welcome" in her ear as I did so.

The next 72 hours were hell and I nearly broke my resolve and rushed her to the nearest healing facility. No Pain, Cool, and Calm were not lasting long enough, and Jess was twisting herself in the sheets, sweating as her fever climbed higher and higher. She moaned, often saying names of the people in the group. The names of her family members. My name. She was in so much pain and I could not figure out how to help her. I began sleeping beside her bed at night and sitting in the chair during the day. Work went undone but I didn't care. At one point, she reached her arm down to the floor and grazed my arm. The contact shook me awake and I woke up to check on her.

She was sobbing softly and latched onto me, begging me to help her, to comfort her, to hold her. I did not hesitate in my reaction.

I reached up and carefully transferred her from her bed and into my lap. As I caressed her waist to pull her into my lap I felt a burning in my fingertips, a burning that continued to cover my whole body. It was a burning that meant something that was important. I could not define it, but it felt good. More than good. It felt life-changing.

It was almost like I was attracted to her like Rob was attracted to Rachel. But that wasn't possible. We were two different species. I couldn't love Jess.

Or could I?

Could Jess be my Partner?

Partners were a tradition that was as old as our species. We are asexual in our true form but we still desire close companionship. Two souls, once they find their true partner, are bound and live the rest of their lives together—it is similar to the human marriage except our divorce rate is zero. The relationship is as close as a romantic one, but in it's actual form is completely platonic. If the two hosts were transferred to a planet that had reproductive requirements from a male and a female, Healers always made sure to put one partner as female and one partner as male so that if it was a planet where an additional level of love and lust existed, the partners could participate.

On Fire Planet my race was asexual—I had never experienced any kind of sexual urge. In face, Earth was the first planet I had been to or heard of where sex is a pleasurable thing and not just used to reproduce. On Earth was love an all-consuming fire. I had been implanted into a male host, and as such, I had the partner mentality of soul combined with the intense male emotions of love and lust. It made my sudden realization of my feelings for Jess far more intense than anything I had ever experienced or imagined. It was nearly too much to take in.

Our contact was burning me—not just because Jess had a high fever, but because as I pulled her into my arms, my entire world shifted as I realized the truth.

I loved Jess.

I loved  _human_  Jess.

How had it taken me so long to realize it?

This tiny woman in my arms, fighting for her life, was my partner and my soul mate, and I clung to her as I realized that my feelings for her had been here for weeks, maybe months.

As waves of love swept over me, I rocked Jess as she slept, kissing her hair and whispering in her ear. I caressed her face and ran my fingers down her neck and arms. I examined her as if I was looking at her for the first time. Her skin was soft and clear. Her tiny hands would be dainty if they didn't show the hard work she did with them. Her curves betrayed her womanhood though she looked younger than she was, and as I pulled her up against me, I became even more aware of just how feminine those curves were.

I was beginning to understand the lustful side of romantic relationships on Earth. Jess was back to sleep so I allowed myself a few more minutes holding her, then replaced her in her bed. I retreated to the other chair in the room and spent the rest of the early morning hours contemplating planets and partners and love and lust.

The next day her fever spiked and then broke. I never left her side, applying Cool and No Pain as often as possible. I patted her forehead with a washcloth and caressed her cheeks, begging her to get through this. She was moaning in delirium and did not wake up at all. That night we had a wordless interchange as I helped her sip her water and noticed that he muscular weakness was getting worse even as her fever was getting better.

The next day I had hoped she would be conscious for at least some of the day and I was rewarded. She slept late, but she did wake up in the early afternoon.

I closed the book I was pretending to read as she slowly blinked the sleep out of her eyes. I reminded myself that she was not aware of my revelation so I kept it light as I greeted her.

"Hey Stranger."

"Hi." She looked a bit surprised but I could tell that she had worked this all out in her head and was just unsure of whether or not it was real.

Unable to stay all the way across the room from her, I walked over to her bed and knelt down, my fingers reaching for hers without my consciously knowing it.

"How ya feeling?"

She took a while to answer—every word must cost her energy—and finally decided on "drained."

I agreed with her, "You've been though quite an ordeal. I have been trying to get in contact with Rob and the Healer, but they're doing a good job staying out of sight. Whatever sickness you have seems to be stabilized for now, but I doubt you'll get better until the Healer gets here. She knows a lot more than I do."

A flicker of confusion crossed her face but she shook it off,

"How long have I been out?"

"About a week."

She was surprised. Had her water and bathroom breaks gone unnoticed in her half-conscious state? It felt like she had been here forever to me.

"When are you going to get everyone? Today? Tomorrow?

I shook my head. As if I would leave her. "I'm not."

For once she showed a little energy, trying to push her head up off her pillows indignantly. I wondered if she knew that she looked like a weak little kitten. I put a hand on her shoulder to keep her from trying any more.

"What do you mean you're not! We have to get them from the rest stop and bring them home! They're alright, right? Rayne and Rachel and Eric are alright?

"Shhhh." I placed my hand over hers to try to calm her down, "They're all fine as far as I know. When Rachel dropped you off she left a note. They won't expect me to leave you. I can't leave you." Ever.

"Oh." She gazed for a moment at our hands and then removed hers from under mine and curled onto her side, facing away from me.

Her actions confused me, but I gave her the solitude and silence I knew she wanted.

The next morning, having once again slept next to Jess's bed, I woke to find her staring at me and our intertwined hands, a small smile on her face.

This simple gesture had me over the moon as I greeted her, "Hey Stranger."

"Hey Yourself." She whispered. I was relieved when she left her hand under mine and decided to take a chance. Slowly, carefully, I brought my other arm up to graze her hair and cheek.

"How are you today?" I asked as I rubbed my thumb over her soft cheekbone. I did not even hear her answer so enthralled was I with her subtle reactions to my physical advance. If her blush and shiver were anything to judge by, Jess felt more than friendship for me too.

I needed to get out of the room before I stood up and confessed the full extent of my feelings, so I stroked her cheek a few more times before leaning close to kiss her cheek. "Breakfast?"

She nodded and I brushed my hand down her check and pressed a longer kiss on her forehead. "You scared me. I thought I was going to lose you there for a little while." I exited the room and leapt down the stairs, trying to figure out if we had fruit or yogurt or anything else that would be easy for her to eat. I found a yogurt in the fridge and took the stairs two at a time carrying a spoon and the yogurt in one hand.

I came back in the room with both items and a smile and settled myself down on the floor to watch her as she ate. It probably was not the most polite thing to do, but Jess would simply have to get used to me looking at her.

She ate her breakfast in silence and then looked at me expectantly. I smile and removed the yogurt container and spoon and returned them to the kitchen where I sat back on the floor by her bed.

"Why are you on the floor?"

"Because I like being near you and I didn't think you'd let me in the bed." Both our cheeks reddened as we realized the double implication of what I had said.

"I…" I hesitated, embarrassed and wanting to explain that I would never force her to do anything she did not want to do. She beat me to it placing her hand upon mine.

"Don't worry Burns, I know you don't like me like that."

Shocked, I looked up into her eyes which held a touch of resignation. Did she really think that?

"Oh, but Jess, I do. I love everything about you." I held her hand tightly, wanting to close my eyes to avoid her reaction in case it was bad.

This time she was shocked.

"You love me?"

I went ahead and took the plunge, my heart racing in anticipation: "With everything in me. Body and Soul," I confirmed, my heart squeezing at the possibility of rejection.

"And you're telling me now why?"

I had put it all out there, now the pieces could fall where they may, "Because you nearly died and I realized a few things, the first is that my priorities needed reordering. Especially when it comes to you. You're everything to me."

She slowly nodded and squeezed my hand, weakly trying to pull me up onto the bed. I caught on quickly an joined her, knees touching knees, hands holding hands, and both of us sharing her pillow.

We lay there for an hour, our noses close and our feet wrapped up as Jess weakly confessed her long-time feelings and I did the same. Our hands were moving in and out of each other, and my hand constantly strayed to her hair and face. It was the most incredible hour of my lives and it was interrupted by the sound of a car outside.

I hopped up quickly to look out the window, so far I had kept Andrew in the dark, and was surprised to find that it was Eric, Rachel, and Rayne. Rayne was already flying up the stairs and Rachel was looking around suspiciously while Eric rested his head back in the drivers seat looking exhausted.

I prepared to be Rayned on as she tackled me in a huge hug.

"Burns! Is Jess here? Is she okay?"

I nodded as I pointed toward the room that she had shared with Jess when they had lived here. She bolted past me and jumped right up on the bed with Jess. I sat beside her, our eyes expressing our disappointment at being interrupted but also feeling relief that some of our companions were still alive.

"Rayne, can you go tell Eric to put the car in the barn and then to come on inside. Maybe we can find something to eat.

Rayne gave Jess a quick hug and then exited and I took the moment while I had it. I reached forward, caressing both sides of Jess's face and looked her straight in the eyes. "I love you. I don't know what that means yet or how we deal with all them and this, but don't doubt that." Then I leaned forward and carefully, softly, settled my lips upon hers for a kiss. She reached one weak hand up to hold my cheek, smiled at me, mumbled "I love you too" and then turned over to go to sleep.

I went downstairs, my heart soaring with love, and met Rachel who gave me a distracted hug hello.

"Where's Jess?"

"She was just about to go to sleep upstairs, I'm sure you can get up there before she falls asleep." I pointed up the stairs toward the bedroom and Rachel gave me a grateful look.

"Thank you so much, we didn't know what else to do."

I smiled, "Think nothing of it. It was the perfect solution."

Rachel took the stairs at a belabored pace and I wondered what was wrong. Had she found out about her mother?

Rob had made it clear that he wanted to explain to Rachel about her mother, so I would wait a little longer to see if they made it home tonight so he could tell her. Otherwise, I knew I would have to do it, and I really did not want to.

Eric was cooking something delicious, which was surprising because I had been looking in the fridge for a week and had never found anything worthy of eating. Over the sound of frying veggies a truck pulled up the driveway. Without a word, Eric and Rayne disappeared into the pantry cellar and I walked onto the porch. Nate jumped out of the driver's seat and sent me a smile.

"Nice to see you made it through alive. Boy have we got some stories for you."


	43. Declaration

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this makes all you Rachel/Rob shippers happy :) PLEASE review because this I'm just so excited about this chapter (and the next) and I want to share that excitement with you!

I yelled inside that the rest of the family had arrived and quickly made my way down to give hugs all around. All of them looked perfectly fine and smiles were big as we were reunited. Sarge's fully healed and strong exterior shook as he embraced Rayne, simply sitting on the driveway so he could rock her as they both cried. As soon as I found Dawn in all the mayhem I grabbed her hand and pulled her inside.

I explained on our way up the stairs that Jess was extremely sick and that I was hoping that she'd be able to figure out what was going on. My voice was perhaps a bit more emotional and concerned than I should have been, and she gave me a searching look. She didn't say anything, but somehow I knew that she knew that I loved Jess. We reached the sick room and Dawn stopped me at the door.

"You say she's lost her ability to speak and move very well? Fever? Neurological symptoms? That doesn't sound good. Let me examine her, but from the sounds of it I may have to get more supplies than I have now."

Her words had my heart squeezing in my chest and I rushed to Jess's side, grabbing her hand and pulling it toward my face for a kiss. I gave Dawn a desperate look but she only said, "You need to leave Farmer Boy, I examine patients alone."

I stayed long enough to introduce Dawn to Jess and mouthed that I loved her when Dawn wasn't looking. Rachel was in the corner but I saw with relief that her face did not indicate that she'd noticed my secret message. She moved out of the room and walked down the stairs with me, her pace still slow and hesitant. We emerged onto the front porch where the reunion party was already underway and Rachel, though she seemed to be silently searching the group for someone, presumably her mother, did not join in. She stood off to the side, silent and alone.

Everyone quieted when they saw her and Rob quickly took the hint and approached her quietly, taking both her hands in his.

"Rachel, you must know that we tried to save her. She saved all of us."

It was clear that she expected the news, but upon hearing it out loud she could handle no more and would have collapsed if Rob hadn't pulled her into his embrace. Her loud sobs took the joy of the reunion away and put everyone in a somber mood. Rayne, who hadn't understood the exchange, slipped out of Sarge's embrace and scooted over to Rachel's side to hold her hand, looking confused but determined to help.

Rob scooped Rachel up in his arms and gently carried her into the house. He took her up the stairs to the room she had stayed in before the Silo was habitable. He closed the door behind them and did not emerge. I decided to leave Rachel's care and comfort up to Rob, secretly hoping that she'd finally see how much he loved her and how much I suspected she loved him in return.

In the meantime, the family quickly moved from the porch inside the house, conscious that we needed to keep our cover more than ever. We all settled in the living room and as Maria's heroic final act was described to Eric and Rayne, the whole room fell silent. Rayne cried as she curled up in Sarge's arms, and Sarge himself, who already knew the whole story, had silent tears falling down his cheeks. Even Eric, normally uncaring and gruff, showed his soft side and was clearly holding in tears of his own.

Sean, our new young man, was hearing the whole story for the first time too, having only caught bits and pieces from Nate and Rob while they were on the run. His face was carefully free of all expression, and I could not tell if he was angry and sad for our sakes or if he was still dealing with the absence of his Soul, Icterine, and felt a little conflicted about the whole situation. Regardless, he was polite and Nate and Rob both seemed to trust him which meant that I could trust him too.

I looked at the faces around me and also thought of the ones upstairs. We were all so different, but life had brought us together and somehow we all worked together. Sarge had the survival skills. Rob was strategic. Nate was a leader who managed to keep almost everyone happy. Eric's technology obsession saved us and gave us the opportunity to save others. Rayne delighted us all. Jess took care of our household needs. Rachel quietly cared for our spirits. . Even Cole kept things less serious all the time with his playful antics. Dawn would take care of our health. Sean would give us insider knowledge of Seeker behavior. I wasn't sure what the twins, Davy and Johnny, would provide, but I knew their strength would come in handy refinishing the rest of the Silo. Even with all the difficulties we faced, I was confident in this group of humans to survive, and I was feeling more blessed than ever to be a part of their family.

The conversation eventually shifted from Maria to the adventures of both groups these past two weeks. Rayne decided to be the storyteller of her group, and the adults all sat around hiding smiles as she described the adventure from her point of view.

"Burns saved my bear. And then we picked huckleberries and Rachel made a pie that broke. And there was a river, but it was too cold to swim in. And I found plants like Sarge showed me so we could eat, but the dandelions were yucky. And then Jess got sleepy sick and we had to come here and I wanted to see Burns but he wasn't here and then we went to the house in Boulder so Eric could work on the computer. And now we're back home." As she finished, she turned to kiss Sarge on the cheek and then beamed at everyone around her, clearly proud of her storytelling and obviously pleased to be the center of attention.

At that point Eric, who was seated beside Sarge and Rayne, pulled Rayne into his lap and held her close while the rest of the family tried to conceal their smiles and shock. He leaned in and looked directly at her while he spoke quietly, but not quietly enough for the rest of us to miss what he said.

"You were such a great helper, finding plants and taking care of Jess and helping with dinner and listening to the radio for signs of trouble. I couldn't have done it without you Rayne."

She glowed at the compliment and snuggled into his side. Nate was looking on incredulously and was grinning at the two of them with delight. Unable to keep it in any longer, a giggle escaped and he held his arms out for Rayne.

"I love you." He said simply as she transferred once again, this time into his arms.

The adorable interaction was interrupted as Rob and Rachel came down the stairs. At Rob's insistence, Rachel took the last seat in the living room, settling in awkwardly next to Johnny and Davy. Rob placed himself behind her, his hands resting gently on her shoulders. We all turned our attention to Nate who began to tell us of the adventures of the men and Dawn, picking up the twins in Kansas and then hiding out for the rest of the time until heading home.

"After we got far enough away and Sarge was more stable we split up and Dawn took her car back to her house to grab some supplies and things. Then we met back up and headed to Kansas. We found the twins no problem. We stopped right at the border and pretended to take photos of the "Welcome to Kansas" sign and they hopped right out of the brush next to the sign and into the car. Scared Sean to death, it was hilarious." Sean just rolled his eyes in embarrassment as Nate continued, "So we just turned around and headed back this way. We've been chillin in an old barn about 50 miles south of here. It's a good thing Dawn was able to grab the supplies because without those we wouldn't have survived until Sarge woke up and could tell us what plants to pick so we could eat. He kept us alive, but I admit, I'm starved." Nate sent a sheepish look toward Sarge and visibly perked when Eric jumped up, walked toward the kitchen, and came back with a stack of plates, forks, and a huge bowl of stir-fry.

Everyone loaded their plates as Nate's story continued, though he talked at a slower pace while he inhaled his food. "Anyway, we checked the rest stop and hid out there for almost a day, but these guys never showed up," he gestured toward Rachel, Eric, and Rayne with his fork, "so we decided to come back this way, hoping they'd made it out okay and headed back to the silo where we left the other cars and unloaded the stuff." He paused suddenly, looking around the room and doing the math in his head, "Where's Jess?"

"Upstairs with Dawn." Rachel managed, her voice thick with emotion. Johnny, who was sitting right next to her gave her a good look for the first time. Rachel's beauty was undeniable, even when she was as upset as she was, and with a quick eyebrow quirk at his brother, he nonchalantly put his hand over her shoulder and pulled her close. My recent romantic experience gave me the ability to understand that he was attracted to her, and I quickly looked to Rob to see what his reaction would be.

Johnny's satisfied smirk when he had Rachel under his arm had Rob turning purple with rage, and when Rachel leaned away from him, clearly uncomfortable, Rob took that as his cue to step in. With no gentleness or subtleness, he grabbed Johnny's huge arm and pushed it away, pulling Rachel up at the same time and depositing himself on the couch in her place, pulling her into his lap. Rachel looked momentarily surprised but settled into Rob's protective embrace and continued her story as if nothing had happened, "Jess caught some kind of sickness when we were camping by the river. She was delirious and Eric and I had to carry her into the car when she couldn't walk on her own. We left her here for Burns to take care of and then went to Boulder. I was so worried about her." Rachel's quiet story belayed the fact that Jess had not been the only one she had been worried about, and almost as if we had planned it, the family took a moment of silence remembering Maria and her sacrifice. Rob pulled Rachel even tighter into his chest and she leaned her face into the nook of his neck, crying silently again.

Rayne, who I was beginning to see had a natural urge to comfort people, looked at Rob and Rachel and made a move to get up to go cuddle with them, but after seeing big, scary Johnny she secured herself in Nate's arms again and just watched them intently. She almost looked like she would challenge Johnny to a fight if he bothered Rachel again, and her fierce little expression had me hiding more smiles. Rob noticed too and gave her a grateful look. Upon seeing that, Rayne relaxed and spoke up again.

"Jess was awake when I went upstairs. I think she'll get better." Her confidence gave me hope and I tried to smile and convince myself that she would be fine. She had to be fine now that we had discovered our love for each other.

With dinner eaten and stories told the family split up for the night. The boys, with the exception of Rob, headed back toward the Silo and all the girls voted to stay the night to be there for Jess. I was disappointed that I would not be able to continue my special alone time with Jess, but I was grateful that Rachel and Rayne both wanted to help out.

I was not entirely sure why Rob had hung back, but after the episode with Johnny I didn't question him when he accompanied Rachel upstairs. When Rob followed Rachel into her room I was overcome with a fit of jealousy, wishing I too could spend the night with my girl, even if it only meant holding her. Instead, Dawn had taken my spot on the floor next to her bed, and Rayne had curled up in the chair in the corner.

I couldn't go to bed without seeing Jess again though, and when I entered her room, Dawn took the hint and asked Rayne if she'd like some chocolate milk. Rayne, so quick to trust the new, spunky grandmotherly lady, held her hand as she accompanied her downstairs. I wasted no time crawling into bed with Jess and holding her close. I could already see improvements since Dawn had arrived, and Jess was able to wake up long enough to smile at me. When I leaned in to kiss her cheek she turned her head so I hit her mouth instead. Gasping in surprise, my human body's intense desires overtook me and I pulled her closer, deepening the kiss. She sighed as she came up for air, but weakly whispered "More."

I was more than happy to comply and settled myself more comfortably next to her, my right hand running up and down her torso and legs while my left cupped her cheek. I have no idea how long Dawn kept Rayne away, but before I was anywhere ready to stop I heard a knock on the door. I extricated myself from the covers and settled Jess back under them, leaning in for one more kiss that I couldn't help but lengthen. The door creaked and Dawn coughed, so I quickly stood up and exited, relieved to see that Dawn had blocked Rayne's view of our passion. Dawn gave me a look and I pleaded with her silently to keep our relationship a secret. Intuitive as she was, she understood immediately and I felt secure that our secret was safe with her.

I passed Rachel's door on the way to my own and could hear her crying. I was glad that Rob had stayed. Rachel needed the comfort of her friend. I truly hoped that their relationship would take a turn and Rob would finally get the girl. They deserved all the happiness I was feeling right now.

I entered my own room with my heart still racing from Jess's kisses. I lay down and closed my eyes, imagining a future of little brunette and redheaded children running around the barnyard and Jess welcoming me in from the fields with a kiss every. How I wished such a dream could come true. But I dreamt it anyway, and even knowing it could never happen exactly that way, I still woke up with a huge smile on my face. Jess and I may have to hide our relationship and we may never have children, but at least I had her. She was enough.

As much as I wanted to stay home with Jess and the rest of the family, I was far past due in my work and needed to get back to it after spending the last week at Jess's side. While Dawn and Rayne were making breakfast, I snuck into Jess's room and kissed her goodbye. When I exited, I ran right into Rob whose huge smile matched my own.

"I take it things went well last night?" I teased, gesturing toward Rachel's room where he had just exited.

Just as I said it, Rachel walked out right behind him and placed herself at his side, much closer to him than normal. She gave me a shy nod and smile and turned a bit pink when Rob put his arm around her shoulder. He gazed at her in total adoration when he told me, "Rachel finally understands that I love her more than anything in the world. We're getting married."

My eyes swung to Rachel in surprise and her cheeks reddened under my scrutiny.

"About time." I smiled, "Congrats!"

Rachel looked at Rob with equal adoration as she quietly whispered "Thank you" and the two of them made their way downstairs, hand in hand.

I smiled to myself. Love was in the air for sure. And I couldn't be happier about it.

**End: Part 2**


	44. Cultivation

**Beginning: Part 3**

I furtively glanced over at Jess where she was loading the dishwasher. We had decided that it would be best for her to stay with me, above ground, until she was fully recovered. Five months had passed, but thanks to Dawn's skill and knowledge, Jess was walking and talking again. We had determined that Jess had been overtaken by the West Nile Virus and Dawn had figured it out just in time to begin an intense healing regimen. She complained that it should be done in a hospital with monitors and physical therapy, but Jess just carried her IV bag around with her and made her chores her physical therapy. Rachel (and therefore Rob), Rayne, and Dawn had all also insisted on staying in the house to see Jess through her ordeal, and nothing in my human life had annoyed me more than trying to be alone with Jess these past few months.

With a subtle nod toward the door which she acknowledged with a slight nod of her own, I stood up and stretched, announcing that I was going to go work on the tractor for a bit. I walked outside, but instead of heading toward the barn, I grabbed a bag that was shoved under the porch and made my way toward the cornfields which were now about five feet high. I followed no path, just continued on until the ground dropped into a gully where a small stream trickled by.

Opening the bag, I pulled out a large blanket and a bottle of wine. I lay back, my face toward the hill, eagerly waiting for my girl to arrive.

She arrived at the top of the hill, shoulders slumped, and I could tell today was a bad day. I ran up toward her and swept her into my arms, giving her a quick kiss as I carried her down the hill. I set her on the blanket and settled in beside her, my arm pulling her into my side. She came willingly and snuggled her face against my chest. She gave a big sigh and tipped her head up, an invitation for a kiss. I happily obliged, pulling her closer and making it last as long as she allowed me to.

"What are we doing Burns?" She sighed as she pulled away, playing with a blade of grass at the edge of the blanket.

"We're sneaking away for alone time so I can do this:" I grazed my fingers across her bare legs and pulled her into my lap for another kiss. She smiled, slightly dazed, and then shook her head and climbed out of my lap, crawling to the far edge of the blanket. I scowled at her.

"No, I mean, what are we doing? It's the end of the world. You're an alien. I'm a human. We're at war with each other. We make no sense."

Each word struck my heart like an arrow and I restrained myself from again gathering her into my arms. We had been avoiding this conversation for months, and now I had to make my move, and pray that she believed me.

"Jessica Anne Nichols, I love you with every fiber of my body and Soul. If there were a judge handy, I'd marry you tomorrow. You want to know what we are doing? We are making love out of hate. Uniting two species. We are the tomorrow of this world, because we have proven that love between a human and a Soul can be real and amazing and wonderful and permanent." As I proclaimed my practice speech, I edged toward her on the blanket. Stopping on a knee and producing a ring from my pocket, I held it in front of her so she could examine the simple elegance of it and spoke again.

"Jess, you challenge me, make me laugh, teach me love, put up with my Soul oddities, love Rayne like she was your own daughter, and treat every member of our family with love and kindness. I want nothing more than to make you my wife and to announce to the world that  _you_  are the woman I love, and I will never love another. Will you marry me?"

She gaped at me, then looked at the ring, then back at me, "Are you serious?"

If she really believed I didn't love her after the last five months of sneaking around, then I was doing something terribly wrong. But before I could complete the thought, she was pulling the ring from my fingers, gazing at it in awe.

"Put it on me!" She whisper-squealed.

I looked up in surprise, "Does that mean it's a yes?"

"Of course it's a yes. I love you Burns, I just didn't know that you loved me this much!"

"I love you more than this much. I will love you for eternity, and I could live that long if I wanted to."

A tear slipped down her cheek as I gently slid the ring onto the third finger of her left hand. I took a second to admire it. It looked good there. I held her hand and kissed it and was surprised when she interrupted the kiss, knocking me flat on my back. Because she followed and lay right on top of me I didn't grumble about the rock under my back, and the two of us slipped into bliss for the next hour, talking, kissing, touching, and loving. Eventually we packed out bag back up and headed for the house hand in hand.

Giving each other nervous glances, we approached the porch together, and when Jess tried to slip her hand from mine, I held it tighter.

"No, it's about time they knew."

"We already know you idiot!" Rachel called from the window, "It's about time you made it official."

Rayne flew out the door and hugged both of us, "Are you getting married?"

A quick glance at Jess told me she wasn't quite ready to tell the world, so I took Rayne in my arms and asked her, "Would you like that?"

She nodded emphatically. "Then you could be my mom and dad."

My heart broke and from Jess's reaction, she was feeling the same. A look of silent understanding passed between us and Jess joined us in our embrace.

"Rayne, would you do the honor of becoming my daughter?" She asked.

"And mine." I added, smiling at Jess, thankful she could basically read my mind.

Rayne's eyes grew hopeful and she yelled, "For real? I could be you daughter?"

"For real." Jess and I said together.

There was no containing it after that. Rayne hopped down and was on the radio to the silo within minutes. Rachel, whose emotions were all over the place anyway since she had a four-month-bump in her belly, was crying in the corner with Jess, and Dawn was looking on with a smile. Rob joined Rachel, their rings shining in the sun and as he held his wife close, resting his hands on their baby bump. He gave me a look of pure joy and I beamed back, knowing that soon Jess and I would be like them-a baby was something that I knew Jess wanted and I could not deny her anything.

Sarge showed up with the whole crew in tow, and though it was crowded, we received well-wishes from our family, but no one was surprised by our secret relationship. I guess we hadn't been as subtle as I'd thought.

Sarge stood up and having already been assured he'd always be Grandpa, he announced his blessing for our marriage. "So when are we gonna do this thing?" He asked.

Jess and I looked at each other across the room and we both shrugged, "It's not like it'd be official, so I'm not sure that it matters when. As soon as possible." I said. Jess nodded in agreement.

"Well then, Nate, Rachel, why don't you go get the bride and groom ready, we have a wedding to perform!" Sarge exclaimed.

Both Jess and I looked at him in shock.

"What? I'm licensed. I can make this legal, not that we'll be filing any documents or anything."

I glanced at Jess and her smile told me everything I needed to know.

"Let's do it."

I caught more look at Jess before the women wisked her away. The love in her eyes was so evident that I lost myself in it and barely noticed as the guys pulled me toward my bedroom at the same time.

We were getting married.

I let out a whoop and turned to Nate with a smile, "Do your worst, because today I'm marrying the most amazing girl in the world."


	45. Affection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This chapter is short and fluffy and more T-rated than anything else has been. I just wanted to get something up and this was all I had done.

" _Burns!"_  Nate shouted in front of my face, his own face showing frustration, "Pay attention or the girls are going to be ready before us!" I had a feeling it was not the first time he had said my name.

I shook myself out of my thoughts—thoughts that were centered around a petite brunette with emeralds for eyes.

_I'm getting married._

I turned to the men in the room and gave them my full attention, well, most of my attention… those green eyes were hard to get out of my head. So was her hair; it smelled like strawberries. And her lips were so soft and tasted so good. And her small, curvy body was…

" _Burns!"_  This time it was Rob who shouted. He was holding out my best pair of jeans and I quickly put them on, suddenly shaking so badly I could barely do the zipper. Nate was going through my clothes; snobbishly declaring that nothing I had was suitable for a wedding. I didn't care. Jess and I could wear our bathrobes and I wouldn't even notice. At least we'd be married. I wasn't worried about the wedding. It was the marriage I was looking forward to.

Nate finally found a sports jacket with a nice undershirt that he deemed presentable and shoved it toward me, amusement in his eyes.

"Maybe now that Jess is going to be your wife she'll buy you some decent clothes. I can't believe we let you go shopping for us."

I ignored him and turned to straighten my jacket, stepping into the downstairs bathroom for a moment alone. I looked at myself in the tiny mirror and sighed. My eyes, my physical identity as a Soul, were as silver as ever. Jess deserved better, but in the most selfish act I had ever committed, I was claiming her for myself. Mine. Forever.

I looked down at the rest of me and seeing nothing out of place I decided I was ready and went out into the hall. Rob, Sarge, Sean, Eric, Johnny, and Davy were already in the living room and I was surprised to see that they had arranged the furniture so that Jess had an aisle to walk down. Sarge slipped upstairs to join the ladies, taking his role as substitute father of the bride seriously.

I stood frozen at the entrance to the room. Someone had picked some wildflowers and they were in a vase on the mantle. Crepe paper was strung haphazardly about the room—definitely the work of the twins—and even though it was extremely tacky, I didn't care. I was marrying Jess. She was going to be my wife. My life. That's all that mattered.

Nate gave me a push from behind, mumbling something about lovesick idiots, and joined me by the fireplace. Dawn came down, Cole on her heels, and took a seat. The men followed suit.

Rayne poked her head around the corner and whispered to Rob loudly enough for everyone to hear, "Where's the music? Isn't there supposed to be music?"

Dawn caught on quickly and began humming "Here Comes the Bride." Satisfied, Rayne started down the aisle, dropping petals on the floor, squeezed into her best blue dress that she had already outgrown.

_My Daughter._

Since my Soul body was unable to father or mother children, having a child, even one that was not my own blood, was remarkable to me. She would call me Dad and I would call her Daughter. We would be family. Someday, if the humans ever got their world back, I would walk her down the aisle.

By the time Rachel came around the corner, glowing in a pale yellow dress, I was already tearing up. I fumbled for a hankerchief but couldn't find one. While I was looking, the humming became louder and I glanced up to find everyone standing and Jess, my Jess, in the doorway looking like an angel. I was suddenly glad she wasn't wearing her bathrobe. She looked good enough to eat. Her dress was short in white lace and had a blue sash, and even the curiosity of where she had gotten such a dress on short notice was forgotten the moment she looked into my eyes.

Everyone else in the room disappeared as I watched her walk slowly down the aisle, her arm resting in Sarge's. We never broke eye contact, and when she arrived by my side it was everything I had in me not to kiss her then.

Then again, this wasn't a traditional wedding, so why wait?

I leaned in and stole a quick kiss which she playfully shook her head at and then immediately turned to Sarge, who had taken his place in the front.

We said traditional, simple vows, and I as I committed my life, for better or worse, to the woman I loved, silent tears streamed down both our cheeks. When she said "I do" I wanted to shout in victory, but when Sarge turned to Rayne we both became silent. This had not been part of the plan.

"Rayne, do you take Burns and Jess to be your parents? Will you honor and respect them, love them, support them, and take care of them for all the days of your life?"

Her little blue eyes became solemn as she said "I do" without a hint of doubt, and both Jess and I lost it, pulling her into our arms. A few muffled sobs around the room told me we weren't the only ones who surprised and touched by Rayne's sincere declaration of love and trust. Sarge told me I could kiss the bride and I did so while the two of us held our daughter in our arms.

In one day I had gotten a wife  _and_  a daughter. I had never experienced such an incredible rush of emotions. I didn't think I would stop smiling for the next 80 years, and I hoped that Jess would be beside me for every single one of them. We shared a smile and then, with Rayne holding onto both of us, we walked back up the aisle, ready to celebrate with our friends and family.

An hour later Jess and I kissed our daughter goodnight—she was having a sleepover with the whole family back at the silo and Dawn, Rob, and Rachel were moving their things back there as well. Rayne left talking excitedly about everyone putting their sleeping bags on the floor near her playground, watching movies all night and eating junk food. Nate was just as excited and he lifted her up in his arms talking in hushed tones about the junk food he had stashed in a secret place. Jess embraced me as I watched them go, my heart so full that I could barely keep it from bursting out of my chest.

"Mr. Flowers, are you ready to go to bed?" She asked me, standing on her tip-toes to give me a quick massage.

I stifled a moan and turned around to pick her up, bridal style, "Mrs. Flowers, you have no idea how much I've looked forward to making you my wife." I leaned in close and kissed her deeply, and managed to find the bedroom door as I carried her inside and laid her carefully on the bed. Pulling off my sports coat and tossing it on the ground without caring where it landed, I climbed up onto the bed with her and took her in my arms. She turned around and presented her zipper to me.

"Help me?" She whispered.

I was only too happy to oblige and soon we were both divested of our outer clothes and were lying side by side, Jess was on her back and I was on my side looking down at her, tracing patterns on her flat stomach.

"Do you want more children? I mean your own baby. One that grows in here?" I asked as I lightly tickled her belly button.

She looked at me with shy eyes but nodded as she pulled me toward her. "Yes I want a baby. But right now I just want you."

I needed no further encouragment as I closed the space separating us, kissing her long and hard. "It's mutual, Mrs. Flowers."


	46. Indignation

"Bye Sweetie," I sighed as Rayne left my office. She was the fifth family member to visit me that day, and not one of them had been happy.

Rachel was concerned that with winter coming quickly, the silo would be too cold for her baby, who was due in February. Rob was already adding extra insulation in their quarters and the common areas, but Rachel had still come to me about it. Jess said it was a mother's protective instinct. I was as thrilled as anyone about the new addition to the clan, but the extra responsibility of caring for a baby was weighing on me. An infant could cry at any time, possibly putting our entire band of rebels in danger with the noise. Not to mention, babies needed diapers. Bottles. Warmth. Tons of clothes to keep up with their rapidly growing bodies. And baby-proofing a missile silo was impossible. Already I'd gone toe-to-toe with Dawn, who had insisted on me buying or stealing all types of prenatal care equipment, including an ultrasound machine, which had been no small task. The big event was four months away, but Rachel, Dawn, Rob, and even Jess were beyond anxious to give the baby a proper home, and the sooner the better. Just thinking about it was exasperating me.

Next had been Johnny and Davy, two men who frightened me in no small measure. They had both been angry at Rob, who had been on their bad side ever since Rob had made it clear that Rachel was off-limits the night they'd all met. Even these two muscular, lumberjack rednecks were wary of Rob and his intense protectiveness of Rachel, which had only increased after their marriage and the announcement of the little one on the way. Apparently Rob's working hours did not coincide with the twins sleeping hours, and since they were only one floor apart in the apartment silo, noise travelled too well for the twins comfort. They left only slightly appeased when I told them I would ask Rob to keep the noise to a minimum.

Right on the twins heels had been Eric who was concerned about the winter food situation. He, Sean, and Nate had researched how to keep our little family self-sufficient, just in case something ever happened to me, but their idea for a Tilapia pond with duckweed and a garden irrigation system was far beyond anything I'd ever imagined we'd need to do and I knew that hauling a few hundred live, foreign fish into a tiny town in Colorado would leave me in no small amount of trouble with observant people like Andrew around. He had not been pleased when I told him I didn't have time to smuggle those types of supplies in and had left in a huff.

So it was with a grumpy sigh that I called for yet another interruption to come on in. At the sight of my daughter I instantly relaxed and broke into a smile. Rayne could cheer me up anytime, even after pregnancy hormones, the terrible twos, and Mr. Bait and Tackle. Unfortunately, my smile was short lived as she immediately pulled her face into a pout and began to relate a dramatic story of half-truths, ending in her dolls being mauled and manhandled by Nate who was trying to go Chucky on the rest of the family for Halloween. She then demanded new dolls for her upcoming birthday, and for once she sounded like the eight-year-old she was. At my stern look she apologized and amended her story, sheepishly admitting that the prank had been her idea and she had been excited about it until Nate took a Sharpie to Misty, Sunny, and Stormy. I ordered her to find her Grandpa Sarge for punishment—I knew he would get her back in line quickly and I didn't want my small irritation with her to cause me to take an entire mornings frustrations out on her.

The last year, and especially in the past month since my marriage, I had determined that it was easy being a Soul when everyone around you was also a Soul, but being the only Soul in a compound of paranoid, cooped up, short-tempered humans required more patience than even I had. I hid my frustration well, but it was there beneath the surface all the same. With the most important farm work done for the season my local Soul acquaintances were under the impression that I had moved back to Boulder to resume my grounds keeping job at CU for the winter, when really I had just gone underground with the rest of the family. I "visited" Deer Trail often to keep my farm in order and prepare for spring, but as far as they knew, I was sleeping 150 miles away, which allowed me to live _with_ my family rather than above them. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now my only reprieve came from Jess and our apartment with a bedroom door that locked. In there I was simply a husband and she simply a wife. The compound was beginning to feel like a prison, but my Jess was still and would always be the Healer of my heart. Like no one else, she put me at ease and made me forget the trials of the life I had chosen. It was all worth it for her and Rayne.

I had just sat down for the 5th time that day when the office door opened without so much as a knock. I looked up, prepared to spear the invader with evil eyes, but I quickly abandoned that move when I saw Jess sashaying toward me, a vision in pink. I tore my eyes away from her nicely accentuated curves and looked at her face. She was smiling serenely and my former frustrations were all forgotten as she settled herself in my lap.

"Why the pretty dress?" I asked, leaving a lingering kiss on her lips.

She smiled into my eyes and rubbed her soft hand over my stubble. "I just felt like it." I just nodded. Rob had warned me that women thought differently than men, and whatever propelled her to dress for the prom was beyond me but I wasn't complaining.

"How has your day been?" I asked as I caressed the soft satin that was her cheek.

"Better than yours I'm guessing. I just talked to Rachel. And Rob. And the twins. And Sarge." As my mouth formed a frown she leaned down to kiss it away, but I pulled back in puzzlement, "Sarge? What was his problem? I just sent Rayne to him for punishment."

"Dawn." She sighed.

Oh. No explanation needed. Ever since Dawn had saved Sarge's life, the two of them argued about everything. Sarge was no longer able to outrun or outfight the younger men in the family, and he blamed Dawn's healing skills rather than his increasing age and stupidity in getting shot. Dawn was not the type to step down, though, and she constantly irritated Sarge, not only reminding him that she had saved his life, but also that he was an old, grumpy man. I avoided any room where the two of them were together.

"He's just going to have to accept that he's not the young man he used to be." I sighed, breathing in her floral scent. "But you are a _very_ nice surprise. To what or whom do I owe the pleasure?"

Jess produced a very out-of-character coy smile and leaned in close, "Does a wife need a reason to visit her husband?"

She interrupted my answer with a kiss, and for a moment I forgot about everything except the wonderful woman in my arms. When she got up and led me out of the room, I followed without question, simply wanting to be in her presence. She led me out of the office and down the tunnel toward Rayne's playplace. With her in front of me, my eyes were on the way her hips swayed as she walked rather than what was around me, so when the shout of "Surprise" came up from my family, I jumped in shock. Surprise for what? I searched the room and found a hand-drawn banner that was covered in Rayne's careful lettering.

_Happy Anniversary?_

My confusion was interrupted by Nate coming toward me and giving me a huge bear hug.

"Dude," he proclaimed, "we made it a whole year. And it's all thanks to you."

My mind traced back over the last year and I realized that he was right. One year ago today I had smuggled Nate to my house. One year ago today I had decided to help the humans. One year ago today my life had changed forever. I was speechless by their grand show of appreciation, and even more so when Eric yelled "Come and get it!" from the cafeteria.

A meal that put my human memories of Thanksgiving to shame was laid out on a large table buffet style. The whole room was decorated in gaudy crepe paper and balloons, clearly the work of the twins, Rayne, and Nate. A handmade card signed by each of them was pushed into my hands, the artwork on the front was without a doubt done by my wife and said "Our Soul to keep."

I was overwhelmed. Such a show of affection affected me greatly and I found myself wiping tears from my eyes. Even Eric was smiling.

Jess leaned toward me and smiled, "The whole morning we've been trying to distract you so we could get this all set up."

"You guys need to learn how to distract me better. Couldn't you have sent me to town or something?" I groaned, now seeing all the petty complaints for the playacting it was.

"Oh no, this was much more fun." Nate declared, "I was watching from the surveillance room the whole time, you were about to explode." He laughed, clearly pleased with himself for getting under my skin. "Now let's get this party started!" He exclaimed, grabbing Rayne and leading them both in a funny little jig. "I call dibs on a corner piece of the cake!"

I didn't know how to express my gratitude, my love, to these people. Seeing a glass of cider in front of me I grabbed it and picked it up.

"To family and freedom." I said, raising it above my head.

"To family and freedom." They all echoed. A warm feeling filled my heart as I looked around. We were a motley group of misfits who rarely all got along, but I would give my life for any of them, and I knew without a doubt that they would do the same for me.

We were family.

* * *

**End: Part 3**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am marking this complete. I've simply lost my desire to write it and don't want to leave you hanging. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Happy reading, -Pixie


	47. Addition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! It's been a while! Like years! But... I have been bored lately and I always felt bad about how I left this story. If there is enough interest, I will try to continue this to the meeting of the other groups and the end of the Host... But I'm not gonna lie, how motivated I am is directly related to how much people like this, so please let me know, either by review or PM, that you want me to continue. This chapter is just to get us back into the swing of things, remind everyone who everyone is. Hopefully things will get fun and interesting starting next chapter!

I closed the barn door with a shove and turned to go inside for the night, sighing in resignation. It was harvest time, so I was extremely busy during the day, bringing corn in from the fields. This year the crop was big enough that I had to hire a few farm hands to work for me. Even though my family was hidden underground just miles away, I hadn't seen them in weeks because the four guys were staying with me in the house. It wasn't worth the risk. I was counting the minutes until harvest was done, the hands were gone, and I could go back to living with Jess, Rayne, and the band of people I'd come to know and love. We had four days left of work as far as I could tell, and then I could sneak down to the silo for a meal and reunion with my family.

In the year since my marriage to Jess, we'd added only one to our number. a little dark-haired, dark-eyed angel named Hope: Rob and Rachel's daughter. The missile silo was doing its job of hiding our little band of rebels, but winters were hard and cold. We had discussed moving south many times but we hadn't ever made a decision. The biggest problem was that we had a safe place to live here and moving the whole group south was a huge risk. Now that Earth was totally settled with Souls, though, everything was a huge risk.

I entered the house and smiled at Sarah, the Soul I'd hired to do the cooking for me and the hands during harvest. She smiled back in her grandmotherly way. She was an older woman who had come out from the city in answer to an ad I'd placed with the Calling Placement Center. She was an efficient worker and a good cook, but she was nosy for a Soul and I was worried that she'd already suspected that I had a secret.

The meal that night was lasagna and as all the workers gathered around I smiled and made small talk. I was getting good at putting on a show for my the Souls in my life, a fact which made me sad and oddly proud at the same time. None of them had any clue I was harboring a dozen humans in the space below my fields. The meal passed with the usual conversation and pleasantries. I got through it as best I could before I escaped up to my room. There I crawled under the covers, exhausted, and fell asleep wishing I was in the arms of my love.

Four days later I waved goodbye to the last of the farm hands as they left the property for the last time. Sarah was the last to leave. She leaned against the door frame as I came back inside from saying goodbye and smiled at me.

"You sure are lovesick over that girlfriend of yours, aren't you Burns?"

"Huh?" I asked, pretending to be oblivious.

"I heard in town that you have a partner on some other world. Singing World maybe? Who is finishing her life term there and coming here to live with you? It's obvious that you miss her"

"Oh, yes, I do. I miss her very much." I lied. I vaguely remembered telling Brenda something like this over a year ago when I was trying to get the group of women in town to back off, but I'd forgotten the details, which was a problem.

"Well I hope she comes here soon, Burns. Watching you mope around these last few weeks has been sad for me. Anyway, it's time for me to go. If you need me for spring planting or for harvest next year, just let me know."

"Thank you, Sarah," I said sincerely, somewhat relieved that her suspicions had been eased by my imaginary girlfriend. "I will contact you for next year if I need you. I've been very pleased with your work here."

She nodded, got in her car, and left. As soon as she was out of sight I rushed to my own car, drove to the new grain silos on my property, opened one that had a secret entrance under the corn, and navigated to the stairs that led down to the living quarters. I announced my presence with a song, Singing in the Rain. As soon as I'd descended all seven flights of steps I prepared to get Rayned on, and sure enough, the little spitfire sprinted from around the corner and launched herself into my arms. My wife was close behind her, waddling as quickly as her advanced pregnancy would let her, and we had our own little family reunion for a few minutes before the rest of the family arrived with smiles on their faces. Dawn gave me her usual once-over before pronouncing me none the worse for wear during my time away, Johnny and Davy both slapped me on the back so hard I almost lost my breath, and Nate whispered his latest idea to trick Sarge. I was so glad to be home.

Holding both my girl's hands we walked toward the cafeteria where Eric, with the help of Sean, was already preparing a great feast for all of us to have together. We were back together and that was something to be celebrated.

* * *

**One Month Later:**

* * *

"Get in the van!" Nate shouted, his face full of fury. He was toe-to-toe with a young man who had another young man behind him and a girl behind both of them. They were human, defiant, and weak with hunger. I had a good idea of why they were reluctant to get into a car that had Nate, Rob, Sarge, and alien me in it. We were in the middle of Nevada, temporarily hidden but not safe for long, and Nate was absolutely out of patience. Surprisingly I was nearing that point myself—we'd been trying to get them to get in the car for the last fifteen minutes—and the heightened emotions and the urgency of the situation were getting to me. I debated getting involved, wondering if promising them that I was not going to turn them in would do any good.

Sarge cut in taking the decision out of my hands, "Please get in the car, kids, we promise that Burns is safe to be around. He could have turned any of us in in the last two years and he has proven to be a loyal friend. You can trust him and us. We don't want to hurt you, we want to help you."

"That's what they say too." The young man spat back, his eyes more scared than anything else.

"I know that's what they say, but if you don't come with us you're toast. You're all over the radio. They know you've been hiding here. They're on their way." Rob put in.

The girl stepped up from behind the boys and silently hopped in. Her brothers looked at her with astonishment and one of them reached up to pull her back out but she moved over on the seat and out of their reach.

"I think we can trust them and I think even if we couldn't trust them, we are running out of choices." She said. She crossed her arms and sat silently glaring at them. The two of them consulted with each other before finally crawling into the van.

"Thank you!" Nate exclaimed as he climbed in after them and nodded at me, letting me know we were clear to go.

I hit the gas and whipped the van around and drove back toward the Interstate. Behind me the humans were closing the curtain that separated me from them. Just in case we got pulled over, the humans would be safe behind the curtain while I lied to get us out of any situation we were in.

In the past year I'd gotten pretty good at lying. I'd come to realize that lying was better than killing, so I lied. I lied about the humans, I lied to get Seekers to go on chases elsewhere, I lied to make other Souls believe I was on their side. I lied and lied and lied. It weighed heavily on my conscience but not as heavily as the lives of the people that I was responsible for.

I contemplated all of these things as I drove. I drove all night toward our home in Colorado. Behind me I could hear murmuring but mostly the humans slept. Toward dawn I heard rustling and Nate's voice loud through the curtain asking if we could make a pit stop.

A regular rest stop was out of the question. Instead I pulled off onto a highway, then a country road, then a road that was in the middle of nowhere. I looked for a good spot that had shrubbery to cover our actions and pulled over. The back of the van emptied of adults as they furtively stretched and headed off to the bushes. I kept my eyes out for other drivers and had a minor heart attack when I saw a car coming up the road.

"Everyone hide! A car is coming!" I whisper-shouted to the bushes, whistling a warning signal. I hoped Nate got ahold of the new kids so that they knew what to do.

I moved out onto the side of the road and plastered a smile on my face.

The car pulled over when it saw me, and two sets of silvery eyes peered out at me in concern.

"Is something wrong sir? Can we help with anything?"

"Thank you for offering! I just pulled over to get a dose of awake from the back of my car and take a walk to wake up. Nothing to be concerned about. Just been driving for a long time and wanted to be safe rather than sorry." I smiled again, praying that my excuse would work.

Of course it did. Souls had no suspicious bones in their bodies. The couple rolled their windows back up and drove on by, waving at me as they left. I waved too and waited until they were out of sight before I gave the all-clear whistle. My humans appeared from out of the bushes and silently filed into the van. I tried to give the new kids a smile but they just looked at the ground as they climbed back in.

We got back to the compound around noon and as I drove into the underground shelter I heaved a sigh of relief. Another rescue mission was over, and we had added three to our number. That meant that we now had 15 people living here, plus Cole.

As we unloaded, Rayne and Jess came out of the shadows to give me hugs and kisses. I embraced them with enthusiasm and reached down to give Jess's baby bump a kiss too. I always missed them when I was gone.

Rachel and her new little baby Hope were there to greet Rob. Rayne made sure to give Grandpa Sarge and Nate an extra hug and kiss each.

Our three new humans were watching all of this with wide eyes, particularly, I noticed, my interactions with Rayne and Jess and the baby bump. I gave them a smile and then faded in to the background. There would be time for them to get to know me later and just now it was all the humans here that they needed to see. Their conversations with Nate, Rob, and Sarge seemed to have convinced them that they were safe, and if that hadn't, the appearance of a dozen humans all healthy in this underground compound seemed more than enough.

After the initial hellos were done and the majority of the shock had passed from the eyes of our newbies, we all wandered into the cafeteria and kitchen at that point where Eric and Sean were cooking up a storm. Dawn immediately took charge of our new recruits and started taking STATs as the three of them, looking weary and overwhelmed, collapsed onto benches. After a few minutes of fussing she pronounced them each in need a few good meals and a good amount of hydration. Bottles of water appeared in front of them and were emptied almost immediately.

Their names were Blake, Evan, and Kim. Blake was the eldest aged 21, Evan was next at 19, and Kim was the baby at 17. Their story came out in pieces, around bites of food and deep swallows of water. It was one that was easy to imagine, given the circumstances. They had grown up on a farm in the country, isolated from much of society. That's what had protected them at first. Their parents had been inserted only after the entire family had figured out the truth. The siblings had escaped, heartbroken, and proceeded to live on the edges of society where they could go unnoticed, stealing to survive, constantly on the move. My humans were the first humans they had encountered in more than 2 years. All three of them were underweight and scrawny. They were exhausted and even though they'd slept all the way here in the car, Dawn pronounced rest and food as the cure to their problems and promptly shuffled them off to bed in our little hospital for the night.

Having been up for the last 24 hours, bed sounded good to me too. I grabbed Jess's hand and tugged her off toward the apartments. We bid the rest of the family goodnight and trudged toward our rooms, hand in hand. I fell asleep almost immediately, my hands resting on the stomach of the woman I loved, feeling the baby kick, totally content and happy.


	48. Captivation

Blake, Evan, and Kim all settled into the compound with fairly seamless ease. All three of them were going to be able to contribute in valuable ways to the group, particularly in our procuring of supplies. They had been out amongst the Souls for years on their own and had learned to survive quite well. Kim, in particular, was a tough young woman, a fact that both Blake and Evan were blind to. They were overly protective of their little sister. The more I got to know her, the more I realized that Kim was the silent, but strong leader of their threesome, a fact which neither of her two older brothers had caught onto yet. They brought youth and vigor into our camp, but Rayne was not pleased.

"The next time you go out and bring people back, can you bring me back a friend?" She whined to me one night after supper.

"What do you mean, bring you back a friend?" I teased, "Nate is your friend. Hope is your friend. We are all your friends, even me and your mom."

"No. I want friends my age. It could be a boy or a girl. I'm not picky."

I smiled at her and promised that I would do my best to find her a friend.

Inside I worried that she was right. She was growing up without anyone her age to develop social skills with, to make mistakes with, to play with. She was entirely surrounded by adults, with the exception of Hope, who was a baby. Poor Rayne was not asking for much, but here in the end of the world as we knew it, it was almost an impossible request.

Even if Rayne hadn't begged me for a friend her age, we already were doing our best to find new humans to save, of any age. Eric, Nate, and Rob were all working together to interpret the data that Eric had mined from the Seeker databases. Our little band of rebels had a tough time finding anyone before the Seekers did, but we did our best to show up to any human sightings. Lately they were getting further and further apart and we often went months without any sort of sighting. Most of them turned out to be nothing, or we got there too late. It was discouraging. It was clear our methods weren't working any more, so Rob and Nate came to me one day with an idea. They wanted to go on the road with the radio, get out there in the thick of things. We were in a very isolated area and their reasoning was that if we got into the more populated areas we might hear more about "wild humans" and have better chances of saving more humans. It was risky, but they were right. If we got out there, we'd have a better chance of finding people, but we'd also have a bigger chance of getting caught.

Something else that my humans talked about a lot was the amazing way Dawn had come to us. She had lived with her Soul for years in a symbiotic relationship and once I removed the Soul, she was able to return immediately to human life. From the way she described it, she'd been present inside her Soul's mind the entire time. So it seemed to me that there was a difference between her situation and mine. Stephen was gone. He was completely erased from my mind, though with Dawn's help I'd gone looking for him after her arrival, I'd concluded that he just didn't exist anymore. I remembered how Maria had been present, even taking control of her own body again after her insertion, and I had hope that if any of our band was caught I'd be able to simply remove the Soul that they'd been inserted with and they'd be able to return to us. To that end, Dawn and I joined together to educate everyone the best we knew on how to resist being overcome by a Soul. I hoped it would be enough.

While the boys worked on interpreting the data that Eric was gleaning from the Seeker databases, I occupied myself with keeping my very pregnant wife happy. She was due any day now and had become more uncomfortable the further along she got. With every day her temper with Rayne was getting shorter, a fault she was only too aware of as she cried to me at night. Everyone in the compound was ready for her to give birth, most especially her. I was glad that Dawn was there and that Rachel had gone through this just 8 months before—Jess would have good company and advice. And our little baby—we'd decided to be surprised about the gender—would have Rayne and Hope to grow up with. I was worried that we'd have a hard time keeping the baby warm in the cold cement compound but Jess assured me that the cold air would be fine for the baby as long as we kept him or her bundled up and close to us at all times.

I was thinking about all of this one afternoon when Rayne came rushing around the corner of my office and hung herself in the doorframe, gasping for air. She gulped a few times before she was able to speak, but I was on my feet before the words were even out of her mouth. Somehow I knew what she was about to say.

"Mama. Baby. Come now." She finally managed.

I stood up quickly, grabbed my coat, and rushed down the compound hall with her. I followed Rayne to the hospital that Dawn operated and immediately went to Jess's side. She was bundled up in a bed, covered in blankets —the room was very cold— and looked perfectly fine. I paused, confused. I thought that the baby was coming now?

Seeing my face she grimaced and said "I might have been a little overzealous in sending Rayne to you…"

I smiled and reached out to hold her hand, "Don't worry about it my love, I'd rather be here. How long have you been having contractions?"

She smiled sheepishly. "Only an hour. Dawn says it's going to be a long time. First babies take a while."

I smiled back, pulled up a chair, and settled in. "That's alright. We are in this together. If you are dealing with contractions then I will be here to help you as much as I can."

We settled in for a long afternoon. Others came and went but I stayed steadfastly by my wife's side, holding her hand through each painful squeeze. Two hours later her contractions were still ten minutes apart when Nate banged on the door outside the hospital. He poked his head in with his eyes closed "I don't want to see anything gross, I just need to talk to Burns." He proclaimed.

I rolled my eyes good-naturedly at Jess—her smile in response lifted my heart—and got up to go see him out in the hall.

He was pacing outside the door, and when I joined him he pulled up short, chewing on his lip.

"Burns, we have a problem."

"Whatever it is, would it be ok if it waited? It's just that Jess is in labor and I don't want to miss the baby…" I said kindly, gesturing back toward where Jess lay writhing in pain without me.

"No, no it can't wait. We have to go right now. There is a pretty big chance that we've found some? several? many? I don't know, possibly a group of humans and if we don't go now it might be too late. I'd rather you were with us but I understand you have to stay here so we're going to chance it without you. We will be careful. It's going to be just me and Rob.

"How long will you be gone?"

"Only a few hours, we hope. The chaos is all in downtown Denver."

I thought hard. Was it more important for me to go with Nate or be here with Jess? My heart said stay with Jess, but my head told me that I needed to go with Nate. His was a life-or-death situation while Jess was in good hands with Dawn and Rachel. I sighed. Nate was intuitive for once and read my thoughts.

"Uh uh. You are not coming with us. Jess would never forgive me and if you even had an ounce of selfishness in you, you would never forgive me either. I just came here to tell you we were leaving. You are staying with Jess. We got this."

I started to argue but he cut me off again. He was decided. I felt a tiny bit relieved and immensely guilty about it.

Against my better judgement I allowed him to run off down the compound hallway. I turned to go back in with Jess.

"What was that about?" She asked.

"Um, just some stuff." I said vaguely. She narrowed her eyes at me but just then she was hit with another contraction. Her hand squeezed mine until her knuckles were white and my hand was about to burst. I hoped that that had distracted her but it didn't. As soon as the contraction passed she was asking again.

"Come on, distract me, what did Nate want?"

"Well, um, he and Rob are going out for a bit."

"Out for a bit? Without you?" She yelled, probably a bit too loud.

I decided it was best to answer her truthfully. This crazy Jess was foreign to me, the pregnancy did funny things to her.

"Yes, I'm not leaving you. They are going to see about some wild humans they've found via the radio in Denver and you and I are going to bring this baby into the world as safely as possible."

Jess's eyes narrowed again, but this time there was more of a thoughtful look to them. She didn't question me about it again, just continued squeezing my hand as each new contraction came, moaning at times, but mostly silent.

The hours passed and the atmosphere in the compound grew expectant. We were all anxious for Jess to deliver a healthy baby, though with all the Soul medical technology that I'd hauled in for Dawn that was really not much of a worry. Added to that, though, Rachel was pacing waiting for Rob to get back and everyone was eager to find out just how many new members we'd be adding to the family today. A baby and who else? There was an underscore of worry, though. This was the first time in a long time anyone had gone outside the compound, and the first time in even longer that they'd gone without me. The risk was great. We just hoped that the payout would be worth it.

Toward the early morning hours Jess's contractions got close enough together that Dawn told her she could push. I sat up by her head, supporting her torso, murmuring encouragement, and watched in awe as my son came into the world yowling for everyone to hear. Both Jess and I cried in delight as he was weighed, measured, and bundled up in a warm blanket and set on Jess's chest. He was absolutely perfect.

Our adoration of our son was only marred by the fact that Rob and Nate had not yet come back. We had expected them hours before and they still had not turned up. Now that my son had arrived, I prepared to go out after them. I kissed Jess goodbye, held my son for a moment, then set him back with his mother, hugged Rayne, and set out toward the bunker's car lot.

I was loading a first aid kit into a truck when some commotion at the entrance drew my attention. I thought with relief that they must have returned! I ran up toward where the noise was coming from and was happy to see Nate with a few people I didn't recognize. As I drew closer, however, their tense body language and sharp conversations pulled me up short.

"We will go back for them!" Nate was shouting to the group of people who had gathered around. "They might not have implanted them yet, we have to go back." He saw me and immediately grabbed my arm, "Burns, the Souls have Rob and one of the new guys. We have to go back for them, we have to go back!"

Two new faces, a man and a woman both peered around from behind him and nodded, "Tom! They got Tom too!"

My heart sank. I knew I should have gone with them. I nodded, "Of course we'll go back for them Nate, of course we will. Where is Rachel? Someone needs to tell Rachel."

Nate's face drained of color as he considered how Rachel would take this news. First Maria was taken, now Rob was caught… She was not a woman prone to tempers, but this might set her over the edge. I patted him on the shoulder. "I'll tell her, friend."

Kim reached over my shoulder and grabbed my arm, shaking her head. "There's no time. I'll tell her. You two need to go. Now. Before they can be inserted."

I turned to everyone else, "If Rob has been implanted and has given up information then this compound is compromised. You all need to evacuate until I give the all-clear call. You don't have much time. Everyone knows what to do, we've prepped for it many times. I promise I'll get to Rob before he can tell them much, but we have to prepare for the worst. Someone find Dawn and bring her to me."

Nate and I finished packing my gear into a car when Dawn appeared by my side, her face lined with concern.

"Dawn, can you take care of Jess, the baby, Rayne, Rachel, and Hope? Get them to a place only you know so that Rob can't follow if he's compromised. Sarge is taking the rest of the group. You know my number. Call me when you're safe."

She pressed her lips together, "We really shouldn't be moving the baby this soon, but I suppose it can't be helped. I'll do it."

"Thank you."

I got into the car that we had finished loading. No one would be going with me. This trip was too dangerous for humans. Nate saw me off before ushering everyone back into the compound to prepare to evacuate. They would all have to disappear to live on the road for a few days while I'd be going right into the heart of a Seeker base. I settled in for the drive to Denver. It was going to be a long day.


	49. Excision

I had to consciously stop myself from speeding. It was surprisingly difficult, even being a Soul. A number of human qualities had rubbed off on me, on top of me becoming a good liar, I now understood the need for speed, and in this situation it felt like it was warranted. Unfortunately driving fast would only garner attention so I forced myself to go the speed limit all the way to Denver.

While I drove, Nate and the new humans caught me up on what they had done to get caught and gave me an idea of how I should proceed by phone. The new couple, Paul and Charissa, had gotten away with Nate because their friend Tom had sacrificed himself with Rob as a distraction. Before the scuffle in Denver they had been on the road, constantly moving around, most recently from the Kansas City area.

Once in Denver I headed for the Seeker Station. I had learned from Nate that the Seekers had captured Rob and the new human, Tom, just blocks away from the Seeker base so it was likely that they had already been transferred there.

I parked as close as I could, a whole four blocks away, and started speed walking toward the station. I got into the station without a problem. I just walked up the exterior steps and opened the door. Once inside a woman behind a desk called out to me pleasantly, "Can I help you, sir?"

"Yes, I'm Seeker Xanadu. I've come to do some follow-up on a case from Kansas City. I was in town tracking some wild humans that I believe you captured a few hours ago. My office has been trying to reach yours to let you know I was coming but the communications system seems to be having problems so they just sent me in person to see if I could help in any way."

"Oh, well, welcome Seeker Xanadu! I will get Seeker Jones and Seeker Wilder to come meet you!"

As soon as she was out of sight I took a huge breath in and got my bearings. Besides the reception desk there was very little in the entry. The walls were covered with awards and a newly painted mural of the Souls' journey across the galaxy. It would be impossible to walk out of here unnoticed unless the receptionist was gone.

I had to wait a few minutes before two men arrived from the back. Both of them were young but earnest looking. I put on a serious face and went to meet them. We all shook hands.

"Hi there. I am Seeker Xanadu from Kansas City. I'm sorry I couldn't inform you of my placement here, but our office has been having communication difficulties. I tracked some wild humans in to Denver in the past few weeks and I believe you may have caught some of them. I just got in last night, too late to assist in the capture. We caught some of their gang already back in KC. One of them is the mate of the young man you caught here and we promised her that we'd do our best to insert her partner into the body of the young man who is her host's mate. Is he already inserted with a Soul?

"Seeker Xanadu, welcome to Denver. We did indeed catch two wild humans last night, two males. One of them has already been inserted but the other is still human. Which one is it that you were hoping to insert with a specific Soul?"

"Tom is the young man, though I would like to see both of them if it's possible. I've been tracking them for so long, I'm sure you understand. I'm so grateful to you for catching them."

"Certainly. Just come on back. The Soul who has been inserted should be waking up any minute now. You may want to hear from him what you can about the ones that got away."

I followed them into the back, walking past several labeled offices, an interrogation room, a holding room, and a set of bathrooms. We stopped at a room labeled "insertion" and went inside. Rob was laying prone on a table and the sight of him caused my breath to catch in my chest. Rob!

Unbidden, I reached out to grab his hand and give it a squeeze. I was going to get him out of here, somehow, someway. I was relieved to know that his Soul hadn't woken up yet and given away the location of our base. That at least was a blessing. I just had to get them—the Soul and the human both—out of here before he could say anything that would give us away.

My odd behavior was observed by the two Seekers and they both stared at me waiting for an explanation.

I quickly removed my hand. "Oh, um, we've found that some skin-to-skin contact can help new-to-planet Souls adapt to the overwhelming sights and sounds in the beginning." I stammered. The two Seekers nodded, though neither one of them looked convinced.

"This particular Soul has lived a life on Earth before." Seeker Jones mentioned casually, searching my face.

"Oh, well then, he'll probably be fine." I muttered, embarrassed. I needed to get ahold of myself!

We heard some muttering from the table, it sounded like the Soul was waking up. I held my breath, realizing belatedly that I probably should not be here where he could recognize me. Too late I started edging out of the room. His head jerked a bit and came up to where he saw the other two Souls in the room and then latched eyes with me. His silver eyes narrowed and I cursed my stupidity for coming here when suddenly Rob's body rolled off the table in a smooth move and stood straight up, eyes wild. In a few practiced motions he'd disarmed both Seekers in the room and then knocked them out, letting them fall to the floor. He turned to me and looked me straight in the eye again.

"Burns! Where's Rachel? And Hope? Are they safe?" He whisper-shouted at me. Just as quickly as that happened, he slumped, put both hands to his ears, and shook his head roughly, shouting "Ohhhh, no! Get out!"

"Shhh! Shhh! Shhh!" I ordered, grabbing his arms, "Everything is fine, just calm down."

The Soul turned his head to me, eyes desperate, "There is someone in here with me."

"I know, I know. It's going to be alright, you just have to trust me, ok?" Then I held him still and looked straight into his eyes. "Rob, you keep fighting in there, I'll get him out. You just keep fighting."

"Rachel." Rob said, then his eyes clouded over and he was shaking his head again, shaking his whole body, absolutely out of control. All of a sudden the shaking stopped. Rob looked straight at me again and said "We gotta get out of here. Now. You can get him out later. I've got control. There was another guy with me. Have you got him out yet?"

"No, Tom is still in here somewhere." I said, trying not to let the weirdness of this situation get to me.

"Well, let's go get him."

The two of us left the room and walked straight across the hall for the holding room. A few people saw us but none questioned what we were doing. Pulling the door open I found a stocky brown-haired young human man who must have been Tom. Tom looked terrified, especially when he saw Rob, the man who'd been captured with him, with silver eyes.

"Tom, we're here to rescue you." I told the human. Charissa and Paul sent us. You can trust us."

Distrust showed in Tom's eyes, mingled with sadness. Of course, my words could be taken to mean that Paul and Charissa had been caught too. If that was the case I might as well play the part of Seeker and just take him like one of them would.

"You're to come with me now." I said, all business, acting like the Seeker I was pretending to be.

Rob banged his head against the wall and then stood straight again. "I'm fine." he said.

I grabbed Tom's arm and led him by the arm out into the hall and then into the bathroom. Rob followed, apparently in control again. There was a small window in the bathroom that Rob efficiently kicked out and the three of us jumped through one-by-one. I dragged Tom toward my car, shoved him in, and got into the driver's seat. Rob opened the car door across from me and then shuddered, slammed it, and ran off into an alley, in the opposite direction of the Seeker base.

He had a good lead on me but I took off after him anyway. When I looked back Tom was getting out of the car and making a run for it himself so I turned around and hissed at him "Get back in the car, do you want to get yourself killed?" I walked back and kiddie locked him into the car and then took off back toward the alley but by then Rob was gone. I looked toward Tom, unsure of what to do.

If I leave you here, will you stay here and trust me?" I asked.

He remained silent but his look did not inspire confidence. I looked back toward the alley where Rob had disappeared. Rob was trained in evasion tactics. If he didn't want to be found there was very little chance that I would find him. And if I left, then Tom would likely try to make a run for it again, and we'd lose him for good. But if I didn't try to do something then Rob may be lost for good. Rob was fighting, though, and he might be able to hold on long enough for us to come back for him. I didn't know what to do. I thought of Rachel and Hope and looked out the window, begging Rob to come back to us. He didn't appear, though, and when alarms began blaring from the Seeker Station I reluctantly put the car into gear.

I started driving, just aimlessly around the city, looking for Rob, or hoping that Rob was looking for us. As I drove I talked. I told Tom the story of our group. How I'd rescued Nate from getting implanted two years ago and then we'd found Eric at Home Depot. I told him about finding Rachel, Rob, and Maria on Pearl Street and Jess and Cole up in the mountains. I told him about Sarge and Rayne's secret hideout under the corn fields of Colorado and how we'd turned it into our home. I told him about Davy and Johnny, the amazing story of Dawn and Sean, and how we'd found Blake, Evan, and Kim. I told him about Hope and my new baby son. As I talked, Tom relaxed, but he still remained silent. I drove and drove and drove, looking for any sign of Rob, anything at all. After a few hours I realized it was pointless and I turned the car toward the silo. Everyone would be gone from it, evacuated to safe places, but I needed to be there.

I pulled into the underground garage, got out and closed the camouflaged bunker doors, and half-smiled at Tom.

"This is our home." I pronounced sadly, wondering how much longer it would even be our home. If Rob was captured again it was unlikely, even in his half-minded state, that he'd be able to keep these secrets for long.

We walked toward the main living area and I was surprised and terrified to see light coming from the hospital. I froze.

"Stay here." I told Tom. He must have trusted me a little bit by then because he did as I told him to. I went on alone toward the light, wishing for possibly the first time in my life that I had a weapon.

The hall was dark and quiet. I crept up and peeked around the doorway, unsure of what I would find.

On one of the hospital beds, Rob was sitting, covered in blood, holding a scalpel to his neck.

"Rachel, get it out, get it out, get it out," he was mumbling, his eyes glazed over. "Get Rachel, get it out. Get it out of my head!"

A tear fell to the ground as he focused his eyes on me, "Burns, where is Rachel? Can you get it out of me?"

"Shhh, shhh, shhh, I'll get it out, I'll get it out, don't worry Rob, I'll get it out."

I grabbed a can of sleep from the counter and approached him. He handed the scalpel to me, his face full of trust, then laid down on the table prone.

I crouched down to be at eye-level with him and saw the silver in his eyes. He was still fighting, just like I told him to.

"Just get it out Burns." He said right before I sprayed Sleep in his face.

It had been quite some time since I'd been called upon to do an excision, and I'd never had to do one where so much damage had been done to the insertion site beforehand. Rob had hacked at his neck with both the scalpel and his fingernails trying to excise the Soul. Fortunately he hadn't cut deep enough to do any damage to either himself or the Soul inside him. I was able to cut around the damage and find the proper place to pull the Soul out. The delicate Soul glided into my hand with ease and then I deposited it in one of the extra tanks we kept for just this purpose. I cleaned up the wound with an extra dose of Clean, Heal, and Smooth and then sprayed some Awake in his face. I could have let him wake up naturally but I was impatient today. I mentally added that to the list of human qualities that had rubbed off on me.

Rob came to after about a minute, blinking against the light. He shook his head hard as he woke, then looked at me with eyes full of gratitude.

"Thanks Burns." He said simply. I nodded.

"You really are on our side?" Tom said from the doorway. I wasn't sure how much of this he'd witnessed, but it was clearly enough that he was trusting me more.

"Yes. I really am on your side." I promised.

"Okay… And Charissa and Paul really are okay?"

"As far as I know they are." I said, thinking that I needed to make some phone calls to let everyone know that things were alright.

"Neither of you told them anything, right?"

"Right." They both confirmed.

"Then we can call everyone back here. Hopefully all of them are fine."

We waited in the Maintenance Area, or the Main Tennis Area, as Rayne still called it, for everyone to come back. The first to arrive were Sarge, Blake, Evan, Kim, Charissa, and Paul. Tom was overjoyed to see Charissa, a curvy brunette and Paul, a tall—though not quite as tall as me—blonde man. Charissa held tight to Paul's hand the entire time we all talked, but Tom hung close to them too, always keeping them in sight. Introductions were nearly done with when Johnny, Davy, Eric, Sean, and Nate arrived. We started all over with the stories and introductions, laughing as we cut each other off and filled in each other's sentences.

Nate was in the middle of an outrageous retelling of our first meeting when the compound got quiet. Rob, who had been hanging out of the way, off by the door to the garage, the entire night, quickly slipped through it. I followed after him and found him hugging Rachel and Hope for dear life. Even after I'd gently hugged Jess and our new baby hello and given Rayne a hug and a kiss, Rob was still holding onto Rachel. She just held him back, a bewildered expression on her face. I nudged everyone else back into the Maintenance Area, knowing Rob needed to be with Rachel alone for a while. Dawn hustled Jess and the baby back up into the hospital muttering about moving twice in 24 hours and how hard it had been on Jess, even with the No Pain and Heal, to have to evacuate like that. I just held my son and smiled, grateful that we were all back together again, safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed so far. For those of you counting, you may have realized that our little group is just about complete. We're currently at 20 members, 2 short of the 22 that is cited in the book.


	50. Calibration

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is chapter 50! Yay! It was also inordinately hard to write. I don't know why. It's mostly character development so I hope that you all don't mind it. You get a glimpse into the new characters a bit more in this chapter. Happy reading!

Life was changing for the people of our little family. New people were introducing new ideas and I found that our semi-comfortable existence was about to cease. My family was no longer satisfied with sitting and letting the drama come to them. They wanted to go out in the world and find drama of their own. The situation with Rob had only strengthened their resolve. They felt invincible. Rob had conquered his Soul and they believed that any of them would be able to do the same now that they had prior warning. They wanted to start traveling the country to find other survivors and a some of them had gathered in my office to discuss it.

"People, people, let's just calm down for a minute." Nate called, standing up. "If we are going to do this, we need a plan, and we need to decide who is going because not everyone can go. We can manage seven, maybe eight people tops."

"Well, Burns is obviously going." Rob said.

I nodded. Of course I was. It would take me away from Jess, Rayne, and the baby, but after the experience with Rob I was determined to be there every time, no matter what.

Nate chimed in "And Rob and I are going." Rob nodded. His experience had shaken him but he was even more determined now to be a part of our "strike force" as he was calling it. He knew he had the strength to conquer being inserted so he wasn't afraid anymore, or so he said.

Rachel's soft voice cut through the room, "If he's going, I'm going." I looked up in disbelief. "Rob can train me. I'll work hard." She added, seeing the shock in the eyes around the room.

Rachel was not the type of person I would have thought of for these trips but perhaps what had happened to Rob had affected her more than I'd realized. Nate and I nodded at her at the same time while Rob put his arm around her, his eyes hard. I imagined there would be a conversation behind closed doors about this but he didn't say anything now.

"I think I'm getting too old for these things," Sarge said, "I'll leave you kids to it. I'll stay here and take care of everybody instead."

I nodded at him, grateful. We would need someone who could handle emergencies here. I was planning on asking Dawn to share leadership duties with Sarge. The two of them still hated each other for no identifiable reason, but they would have to put aside their differences to take care of the family. Eric, Sean, Johnny, and Davy would also stay, along with Hope, my wife and children. The rest of the family was in the office, potentially part of this adventure.

"I'd like to go" Kim said, prompting both of her brothers to sit up in concern.

"You are not going on a raid by yourself." Blake said to Kim, his voice tight.

I closed my eyes and leaned back, listening to their terse words.

"Blake is right, Kim." Evan joined in, "Neither of us is going to let you go on a raid alone."

"Fine then, come with us. All three of us can go." Kim said, her soft voice firm.

Neither Blake nor Evan made a response, and I opened my eyes to see them eying each other warily. Finally they both nodded to Kim, their expressions resigned. I noticed, not for the first time, that the three siblings all looked very alike: sandy colored hair, green eyes, slim features. They all had the exact same straight nose and small mouth. They could have been mistaken for triplets but they were actually two years apart each, with Kim being the youngest at seventeen.

"Good. It'll be just like old times." Kim said, a satisfied smirk on her face. I smiled to myself. Time and time again I'd seen Kim convince her brothers to do things her way. Neither of them seemed to realize just how efficiently she maneuvered them. She was undoubtedly the boss of the three of them, though the eldest brother, straight-laced Blake, would probably be offended if anyone suggested that out loud. Evan was more laid-back, but both of the brothers had a protective streak a mile wide when it came to their little sister.

Their experience would be valuable out on the road. They'd been surviving for the last 3 years on their own and had only recently gotten close to caught. We'd be able to learn a lot from them. I was glad they wanted to come.

"I'd like to come too." Tom said, his eyes lingering on Kim. Tom had been quiet since his rescue with Rob, but I was beginning to suspect that the stocky, brown-haired young man was just naturally quiet. His deep blue eyes were alert and wary, though, and I doubted he missed much. He sat next to dark-skinned, beautiful Charissa, who was clinging to Paul on her other side. Charissa had also been quiet since the rescue but unlike Tom whose silence was one of contemplation and observation, Charissa's silence reeked of anxiety and panic. Whenever a question was directed at her she consulted Paul first before answering, her voice wavering with tension.

"If he's going, I'm going," Paul said. I got the feeling that big, buff Paul wasn't saying this out of concern for his friend but because he didn't want to be one-upped by short, stocky Tom. Paul was built and tough and clearly the leader of their group. Charissa stuck to him like glue.

It was for that reason that I wasn't surprised when she leaned into him with a pout and said "Please don't go! I don't want to go!"

He grimaced, conflicted, at which point Nate spoke up, "Actually, we already have 8 with Tom and that is more than enough. Maybe next time." Paul sat back, only slightly appeased, and patted Charissa's hand. She smiled and leaned in to kiss his neck saying "thank you Paulie, I'm glad you're not going, I wouldn't want to be here alone." Tom's expression was one of annoyance, near revulsion, but the rest of us just pretended not to notice.

"So when and where are we going?" I asked, trying to change the focus of the conversation.

Kim spoke up immediately, her quiet voice penetrating the room, "Since it's winter, we probably want to go south. Maybe to Texas or New Mexico or Arizona or SoCal. I'd recommend Texas right now. We can try Arizona in the spring, Montana in the summer and the midwest in the fall. If we take a month-long trip, spending a day in each town, that ought to be enough. If we leave in two weeks we can be back by Christmas."

My respect for Kim tripled as I realized that she had already put a lot of thought into this. Though only seventeen she was a valuable asset to our team. Nate was staring at her with open admiration, and even Rob was looking at her with respect.

"Thank you, Kim, for that insight." Nate said, "We'll take it under advisement for sure. Did you do most of the planning when you guys traveled?" He asked.

She nodded modestly, looking down. Blake smiled in pride, "That's our Kimmy, always prepared. She coulda been a boy scout."

"Well, I agree with her that we should go south." Rob interjected. "Any of the southern states would be preferable to going north in this cold."

I nodded in agreement, even though I didn't have much experience with traveling. I knew from Stephen's memories that the south of the US was much warmer during the winter and it made sense to go there during cold weather.

"Alright, we can discuss that more later, but we really appreciate your input, Kim." I said, "Now, Kim is right that it makes sense to leave in two weeks. We all want to be home for Christmas."

The others nodded in agreement. "Well then, how about the 8 of us meet again to discuss this more in detail tomorrow." Nate finished. Everyone agreed and filed out of my office.  
\-----  
Three Weeks Later:  
\-----  
I shuffled into the motorhome, which was packed with members of our crew. I doled out sandwiches from the local sandwich shop and sat down, too tired to eat. Almost immediately I felt Tom's hand on my shoulder, squeezing sympathetically. Quiet though he was, he never missed much. I appreciated the gesture.

It was only 5 PM and darkness was coming soon in the winter light. While everyone else ate I scooted toward the back of the motorhome and collapsed on my bed hoping to get a few minutes of sleep. I'd been up since 8 AM and had only gotten 3 hours of sleep before that. In what felt like minutes someone was shaking my shoulder. I rolled out of bed, bleary-eyed, and pulled on my coat.

While I'd spent the day wandering Amarillo, Texas buying supplies to put in the trailer that we were pulling behind the motorhome, the crew had been sleeping and preparing for tonight. We had maps marked with a few spots where Eric's research stated that humans had been sighted in the past. Our plan was straightforward and possibly too simple: visit those areas and poke around, hoping to find some humans.

Everyone was dressed in black, armed with maps, a set of fancy communication devices, and night-vision goggles. We paired up: Rob and Rachel; Nate and me; Tom and Evan; and Blake and Kim. Each of us took a spot on the map and started off. In an emergency we hoped that I'd be able to rush to the rescue but everyone here knew the risks. As far as we knew there were no active Seeker patrols in this area, but we couldn't be sure without Eric here in person to hack their surveillance system. Our fancy comms allowed us to hear what the other teams were doing and even though we'd all agreed to keep chatter to a minimum, it was impossible to shut Nate up.

"Oh, look! Ice cream!"

"They're closed." I said, "I'll try to get you some tomorrow."

"Ice cream?" a male voice came over the headset of my comm, sounding hopeful "I want some!" It sounded like Evan or Blake, but it had to be Evan. He was like a younger version of Nate.

"Shhh!" Tom's soft voice hissed in my ear. Definitely Evan then. I could even hear Kim snickering in the background, followed by Blake's voice snapping at her to control herself.

I sighed. The whole group was slap-happy. They'd been cooped up in the motorhome for days without an outlet. Now that they were free it was impossible to keep certain individuals at bay. I just focused on our task, which was investigating an old warehouse on the edge of town. Nate and I poked around outside a bit before we ventured inside what looked like a completely abandoned old warehouse. The others were looking at another old warehouse, an alley that people kept disappearing into, and a field that had an abnormal number of Seeker chases around it.

I walked around the side of the warehouse, using a stick to move some of the brush out of the way. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. The ground looked untouched. The windows were dirty and we couldn't see through them. What doors we found were locked, though, so we couldn't get inside without breaking something.

"Don't worry guys," Nate said over the comms as the sound of breaking glass dissipated, "just getting inside our warehouse."

He put his hand through the window of the door and unlocked the deadbolt, opening the door. We both ventured inside cautiously, Nate turning to the left while I turned to the right. The warehouse was two stories, and Nate began to climb nearby stairs that led to the open second level. I wavered a moment and then turned to follow. I'd rather we were together. I climbed up after him and followed as he systematically checked every crack and cranny on the second floor.

Suddenly the door below us slammed.

We both turned on our heels, looking down the stairs, just in time to see two figures race into the night outside the door.

"No! Wait! We're human!" Nate whisper-shouted toward their backs before he realized it was hopeless. Instead he ran down the stairs, through the door, and gave chase. I followed at a distance, knowing my presence in this case would likely be unhelpful. By the time I got outside Nate and the runners, likely human, were running down the streets of the edge of town. The humans were gaining distance on Nate, though, and before I even knew it the chase was done. They'd disappeared around a corner and Nate, though he followed, came back around a few minutes later shaking his head.

"I lost 'em." He wheezed. "Man, I'm more out of shape than I thought. Or they were in better shape than I expected. One of the two." I shook my head at him and sighed.

"How do we find them now? They thought we were Seekers."

"I don't know." I said, glum.

"Leave a note?" Kim suggested over the comms.

"I doubt they'll come back here, and what would we say?"

"I don't know." She sighed. Everyone knew it. We'd lost them.

"Well, you should search the rest of the warehouse." Tom said quietly, "You may find a stash of food or other people, you never know. We'll come help."

He was right of course. Tom and Evan were the closest to us and arrived soon to help us go through the warehouse. In one corner on the lower floor we found a stash of non-perishable food, bedding, a deck of cards, a copy of book called "Edible Wild Plants," and a few gallons of water. We left it all where we found it and added a note, like Kim suggested, that said

Found your stash. We are like you, human too. Meet us here at midnight on Tuesday and we will prove it to you.

We were all back in bed in the motorhome by 3 AM Sunday morning, but none of us could sleep.

"I can't believe we were so close and they slipped through our fingers." Nate whined.

"Next time we need to go in larger groups. Have two search the area and two others establish a perimeter to catch any runners. We know they're still in town. We should keep looking, not just wait for Tuesday night to meet them, hoping they find the note." Kim put in quietly. Tom nodded in agreement. I thought about it. It wasn't a bad idea.

"That sounds like a good plan." I said, as I turned over to get some sleep. I had to be up before the rest of them to buy more supplies for our trailer and act out a charade. I was pretending to be a writer, researching for a book I was writing. It was uncomfortable lying, but I was getting so good at it I barely flinched anymore. I lay there thinking about the two people we'd scared off. Were they safe tonight? Did they have enough to eat? Had they been caught by Seekers? We were monitoring those channels but we might have missed something while we were out. I was unhappy with myself, knowing that I'd let the group down. We should have canvassed in larger groups to begin with, like Kim suggested, anticipating that they'd be skittish. I was supposed to be a leader. Supposed to have answers.

I sighed deeply and turned over on my bed, trying to get comfortable. Above me in the bunks I heard Nate moving around too. Both of us were upset with ourselves for how the evening ended. But, there was nothing we could do about it now.

These thoughts plagued me until I finally drifted off. Only a short time later my alarm sounded and all around me grumpy humans flung arms and pillows in my direction until I got it turned off. It was 8 AM and I had a lot of things to do today. I let the humans sleep as I quietly got ready for a new day. Hopefully we'd find the humans today, but even if we didn't my to-do list was long. I headed for the first grocery store in town, a list of items clutched in my hand, and took a deep breath. Time to lie.


	51. Confrontation

While I went shopping, a task I was beginning to despise, my crew of humans did their best to locate the two humans that we'd let slip past us. They listened to a constant stream of Seeker radio transmissions from around town, waiting to hear anything out of the ordinary. They also identified other buildings for us to search once it was dark. We were handicapped by the light of day and it bothered the humans. Everyone was already ready to go when I arrived back at the motorhome with dinner at 6 PM.

"What if we go out in sunglasses? It's Texas. No one will be suspicious. Especially if Burns doesn't wear any." Evan suggested. The others looked at each other in measured glances. They were so anxious to get out of the motorhome that they were almost willing to risk it.

"Maybe if just a few of us went…" Nate began.

"It wouldn't draw as much attention as a large group." Rob finished.

Kim stood up with a smile on her face but sat down quickly when both of her brothers glared at her. Rachel, seeing the interaction, smiled softly and reached over for Kim's hand. "Kim and I will stay here." She said.

"I will too." Tom put in quietly.

"So will I." Blake added.

We were left with Evan, Nate, Rob, and myself to go out in search of the humans before dark. Once the sun set we'd return and the whole group of us would go out again.

The guys quickly found clothing that would blend in with the Texan style as well as sunglasses and were ready to leave. The four of us left the motorhome, which was parked on a side street out of the way, and walked toward one of the warehouses on the edge of town. The walk took us about 15 minutes and we were all hot and dripping in sweat by the time we arrived. I stood watch with Evan while Rob and Nate searched the inside.

We could hear them over the comms, clearing each area in the warehouse.

I eyed Evan, his sandy blonde hair was tussled and his green eyes covered by the dark lenses. His face, where there was usually a smile, looked serious for once. I turned my eyes to the warehouse and scanned for movement. Nothing. Well, while we were waiting the silence was awkward. I muted my mic and turned to Evan.

"So what did you want to be when you grew up, you know, before?" I asked, floundering for conversation topics.

"I want to be a super hero." He said, his face breaking out into its usual grin.

"Want to? As in still do?" I asked.

"Yep." He confirmed. "When I grow up, that's what I want to be so I can save everyone and be cool and all the ladies will love me."

I smiled in response.

"What did you want to be, Burns?" He asked me.

"Huh," I said, thinking back. No one had asked me that in a long time and my life on Fire World felt like so long ago I barely even thought about it. "I wanted to live on the Origin, so I didn't have to inhabit anyone else's body if I didn't want to." I said, "But I'm happy here, I'm glad I came here, despite the circumstances."

Evan nodded. I'd told them all about the planets that the Souls had occupied and he knew of the Origin, knew that it was the home planet off the Souls and that, while there were hosts on the Origin, it was the only planet where we could live outside a host for any length of time.

I checked the warehouse again. "Should we split up, so I can be on the other side of the warehouse?" I suggested.

"Oh, yeah, probably." he said.

I walked around the side of the building and waited for something to happen. And waited. And waited. And waited. Rob and Nate's voices came over the comms on occasion, clearing room after room, but nothing turned up. After another half hour, Rob and Nate exited the building.

My headset beeped with Rob's voice, "All clear."

I sighed and joined the other three guys for our walk back to the motorhome. We took a different route back this time so as not to attract any unwanted attention and arrived about 20 minutes later.

I knocked on the door and said "It's me."

The door opened immediately to Kim's flushed face. As she opened it further she revealed Rachel, Tom, and Blake sitting at the table inside with cards strewn in front of them. All of them were on the verge of laughing.

"What'd we miss!?" Nate and Evan exclaimed at the same time. They never wanted to be away from the fun.

Kim giggled, then explained, "we were playing Hearts and Rachel won like every hand and… You just had to be here."

"Well, deal us in!" Evan exclaimed, walking into the RV.

Kim smiled and sat back down next to Tom, moving over so Evan could then sit on her other side. Tom smiled into his lap and then began dealing the cards.

The rest of us squeezed into the motorhome and before long a roaring game of Hearts was going on at the table. For a little while we all relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. Rob's arm was around Rachel's waist, Evan and Blake were punching each other in jest, Nate was jumping in excitement every time he won a hand, and young Tom was sneaking glances at Kim beside him every chance got. My humans were happy.

An hour later it was finally dark enough for all of us to go out so we packed up the game and got ready to go out. Dressed in all black again, we split up into four teams this time. Rob took Blake, Evan, and Rachel, while I took Nate, Tom, and Kim. It was only 24 hours after our failed attempt to catch the humans and we still had 24 hours before the meeting time on our note, but Rob's group was going back to that warehouse to monitor it anyway. They'd stay there all night watching it. Our group was going to investigate a new warehouse, one the humans had uncovered in their research during the day.

I'd rented a car for the occasion. Before we'd set out from Colorado we'd decided that it would be better for me to rent cars on occasion than to risk connecting any of our cars from Colorado to this trip. Getting a car for a short time was easy and relatively risk-free. So tonight we had a small SUV at our disposal.

We drove to the opposite side of town, an area that was filled with warehouses. I was overwhelmed with all of them but Nate directed me toward a specific one that had been empty for some time. Getting out, Kim and I were chosen to stay outside and monitor the perimeter while Tom and Nate went inside. We all had our comms on and working, though, so we could hear everything that went on inside.

"The door is unlocked. That's good news." Nate said quietly.

"It's got offices on the first floor so it's going to take a while to check." Tom said, "be ready for anything guys."

Kim bounced on her feet and did a few stretches, ready to run after someone if necessary. I grudgingly did the same. We split up so that we could cover more ground.

We heard rustling and then Tom's voice saying "Clear."

"Clear." Nate's voice added a few minutes later

"Clear." Tom said again.

"Clear" Nate continued.

We relaxed. It seemed like this warehouse was empty. Regardless, we had committed to waiting it out, so we sat there and did just that. We waited for something to happen. And waited. And waited. And waited. Kim was nestled into the bushes on the opposite side of the building while I was standing in the shadows on my side. Nate and Tom were inside, lounging around now that they'd cleared every room.

Four hours into the six-hour stake-out, something rustled in the bushes outside the warehouse. Five people exited the brush and made their way toward the building. I excitedly whispered into the comms: "people coming your way!"

Three men and two women crossed the open area and entered the building. When they did, Kim and I descended on the door, blocking the exit.

We did all this in silence, but Kim reached out and held my hand, squeezing it in excitement. She smiled at me and focused back on the door. I quickly texted Rob and told him we'd run into people and to come this way. I knew they'd find a way to get here. We were ready. I said "ready" into the comms and waited for the confrontation praying that it'd go well. We couldn't be 100% certain they were human yet, but the odds were that they were. Souls wouldn't be out at this time of night looking at abandoned warehouses.

There was a flash of light through the windows inside and then Nate said "Humans!"

Almost immediately the door tried to open. Kim and I pushed it back. Inside we heard scuffling as Nate whisper-shouted at them, "No wait, no wait, we're human, we're human! Look, look, look! Look into my eyes!"

"Holy pieballs." Someone whispered. "They're human."

There was more shuffling inside and some muffled sobbing.

"Yeah, yeah, our friends are right outside. We've been looking for you for a few days." Nate continued. "We missed you last night."

"Last night?" One of them said. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I chased two people in a warehouse on the other side of town, gave them quite a scare I think, last night. We left them a note. Wasn't that you?"

"No, it wasn't. Maybe there are even more of us than we think." A woman's voice said.

I paced nervously on the other side of the door. I was just realizing that this might go badly for me. Nate had said his friends were on the other side of the door but explaining me was going to be hard. Kim squeezed my hand again, her look compassionate. She understood what I was thinking.

"I'll go in and prepare them to meet you." She said quietly.

Tom and Nate heard her over the comms and both of them said "Oh."

Kim opened the door and went inside the warehouse.

Her voice came over my comms, "Hi there, I'm so glad to meet you, I'm Kim, and since they didn't introduce themselves, that's Nate and Tom."

"Oh, yeah, I'm Nate." Nate said, laughing, "What are your names?"

"I'm Gail," the voice from before said, "and these are Derrick, Brandon, Ellen, and Greg."

"It's so nice to meet you." Nate said, laughing again. "Um, we also have another person we'd like you to meet. He's special. Special to us. So don't be afraid of him. He'd never hurt you. I promise. He's on our side. His name is Burns."

I took a deep breath and opened the door. I walked in find all the humans together just beyond it. I smiled and opened my mouth to greet them when a bright light shone in my face. Gasps rang out all around me and almost immediately a fist came at my head.

Darkness and pain enveloped me.

I came to in the warehouse surrounded by angry voices. Kim was kneeling over me protectively, but her arms were tied up. Nate was also tied up. Their guns were gone. I tried to move and found I was bound as well.

"Let us go! You have no idea what you're doing! We can help you!" Nate was yelling at the humans. The other group of humans all had stony faces and were finishing tying Tom up. Suddenly there was a commotion and the door outside opened. More bright lights flashed in our faces and someone with a gun entered my line of sight.

"Nobody move." Rob's serious voice came through the din.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

Rob pointed the gun toward the other humans and then motioned for Blake to untie Nate. Tom was already out of his bindings and was helping Kim. The guys retrieved their guns and pointed them toward the ground while Kim untied me. As soon as I was out of my ropes I moved behind Rob, my eyes downcast. So much trouble just for me.

"Now we would love to be friends, but you have to accept that Burns is part of our group." Nate said seriously. "He could have turned us in a hundred times and he hasn't. Just look at us, the fact that we're all still human is proof enough that he's on our side. He's been with us for over 2 years."

"We're going to need a minute." The petite woman said, her voice identified her as Gail, the group's leader. She was in her 40s or 50s but looked fit and spry. The group of them gathered around in a circle and spoke in hushed tones. While that happened Nate examined my face, clucking his tongue in irritation.

"You're going to have a black eye." He said, "You can't go walking around town with a black eye. Damn it."

"We'll put some Heal on it and I'll take some Inside Clean and we'll see what it can do for a black eye." I said hopefully.

The other humans had finished their pow-wow and were turning to us with mistrust all over their faces.

"We find it hard to believe that any of the worms could come to our side. As an act of faith, we are asking that you give him to us for a week. If we are convinced, we will return him to you at the end of it. If not, we will kill him."

"Absolutely not." Nate said. "There is no way we would do that. We depend on him to survive."

"In case you haven't noticed, we have the upper hand right now." Rob added, raising his gun to aim it at Gail, "We outnumber you by three."

Gail smirked and I suddenly knew with panicked certainty that they had more humans in their group who were coming.

"More are coming, Nate, more are coming and I need to be gone by the time they get here. We all do." I said.

Nate pressed his lips together for a moment then spoke, "Now why do you have to be like that? We just wanted to be friends."

"Life is too short for friends." Gail said.

"We should go. Now." Rob said urgently

"But if we leave them they will know about Burns and not know about all the other stuff we can do to help them and we'll miss out on being friends!" Evan said dramatically. "The whole point of this trip was to find more humans to help. We can't just get scared and run now."

Maybe there's another solution." Kim said to me suddenly.

"Then she turned to the group and said, "Now wait. If it's a hostage you want, why can't one of us humans work? You could spend some time with us and get to know us and maybe that'd be enough to believe us?"

"But if you choose to accept those terms then you can't kill the human hostage at the end of your time with him. You have to set him loose. You can set him loose anywhere. We'll come pick him up." Nate added.

The group of five conferred in a huddle again. They broke apart and nodded. "Fine. Who's it gonna be."

We all looked at each other. Rob's arms tightened around Rachel's waist, Blake stepped next to Kim and put his hand on her wrist, and Nate and I looked at each other. Nate was just about to speak up when Evan did instead.

"Let me do this." He said, "It'll be an adventure. I can be a super hero!"

"Be serious, Evan. You could get killed." Blake snapped.

"I know but they need someone fun, who can win them over. Tom's too quiet, Nate's too important, Rob has a kid, Rachel and Kim definitely aren't going, and you need to look after Kim. I'm the obvious choice."

It hadn't seemed obvious to me, but when he explained it like that it didn't seem like the worst idea. Evan had a way with words and would be able to make friends with people in the other group. Other than the girls, he was the one least likely to be killed by them. It may just work.

"I think it's a good choice." I put in. "Even though this is a terrible idea." I added.

"Then it's settled." Evan said brightly. "I'll go and hang out with them for a week and you guys can pick me up afterward."

"Do you have my cell phone number memorized?" I asked him.

"Yes, I do. You made me memorize the first day." He replied.

"Ok, call us in a week. If something goes wrong, meet us at the last rest stop southbound before Lubbock on I-27 in 2 weeks at midnight. If that goes wrong, try to make your way back to the silo."

"Will do." He said easily. He took all of this just a little too glibly for me. I was worried about him.

"We better go before the others get here." Rob said, irritated.

Everyone hugged Evan goodbye and then, leaving the five humans in the warehouse with Evan, we all got in the small SUV that I'd rented, squeezed to the limit, and drove back to the motorhome. We were silent the entire way there, each lost in thought, hoping we hadn't just given one of our own up for dead. I didn't think so. They might kill me but they wouldn't kill one of their own. Not another human. At least I hoped not.


	52. Tension

The week without Evan dragged by. Everyone was tense except for Nate and Kim. Both of them had some weird, optimistic idea that everything would be fine. When the day came for Evan to call us all of us were on edge, though, even Kim and Nate. The RV was cramped and hot, even with the AC running full blast. Kim, Nate, Rachel, and Tom were playing a half-hearted game of Hearts while Rob stood behind Rachel and rubbed her shoulders absently, Blake bounced a ball against the wall, and I paced. I continued to walk up and down the aisle of the camper, the phone clutched in my hand, until Rob finally grabbed my shoulder and made me sit down. I sighed and put my head in my hands. Why had we let Evan go with them? The more I thought about it, the more I realized that we should have just left with all of us and run. We wouldn't have achieved our goal of helping other humans but we would at least all still be together.

I was brought out of my misery by a buzzing. My phone!

I answered it breathlessly, "Evan?"

"Burns!" I could hear him on the other side of the line. His voice sounded upbeat. I gave everyone a smile. Rachel and Kim both slumped at their table in relief while Nate did a fist pump.

"Where are you? Where can we come pick you up? Are you ok? Did they treat you badly?" I rattled off questions one after the other.

"Whoa, whoa! Slow down! I'm fine! I promise! They were actually pretty cool, well some of them were anyway, and they want to meet you all again, this time they promised they won't try to kill you. I told them all about you, all about everyone, and they believed me. Or most of them do. Enough of them do. Anyway, we can talk about it all after you pick me up. I'm in Wichita Falls, Texas. Is that far from your current location?

I mouthed the location to Rob, our navigator, who did some numbers in his head before mouthing back "two hours away."

"Evan we're about two hours away. We're in Childress because we couldn't stay in Amarillo any longer, but that actually means we're closer to you so we'll be able to get there faster. We'll see you in two hours. Where are you exactly?"

I got the details from him and we arranged a meeting time and place. Then we hit the road.

The feeling in the RV was jubilant as I described his words and tone to the rest of the crew. It really seemed like Evan had been able to win them over! I was so relieved I was nearly moved to tears.

Two long hours later we arrived outside of Wichita Falls. We exited the highway and made our way to the rest stop where we'd promised to meet Evan. There were only three other cars in the parking lot. I had to physically restrain Kim from leaving the RV as I stepped out into the parking lot, looking around for Evan's lanky form. I saw him just a few yards away under an overhang, sunglasses in place, talking to a young woman. I approached cautiously. When I was a few paces away he broke out into a smile and bounded over to me.

"Burns!" He said as he gave me a big hug. "I missed you buddy."

"We missed you too. You have no idea how much."

"This is Ellen." He said, turning to the young woman who had been standing with him. He put his hand on her shoulder and nudged her forward. She smiled shyly and put her hand out.

"Hi Burns, I'm sorry about what we put you through last week. Evan has told us all about you and we understand that we were wrong. Please understand we were just trying to keep our family safe. Gail sent me to make amends and see if you'd forgive us."

"Of course I forgive you." I said, taking her hand in mine for a firm shake. I may have had some human tendencies rub off on me, but I was still a Soul and forgiving in nature. If these humans asked it, I would give it.

"Great. I was hoping you'd say that." She lifted a walkie-talkie to her mouth and said, "All clear!"

Humans appeared from behind bushes all around us. My heart rate increased slightly as I realized that I might have just signed my own death warrant, but I hoped that my fears were for naught. A quick count told me that nine additional humans besides Evan and Ellen were here. I recognized Gail from last week and took a small step backwards, then paused, bolstering my courage. I had to believe she would not hurt me. I gave her a smile.

Suddenly Kim and Nate and Rob were at my side, breathless, forming a barrier around me.

"Don't hurt him!" Kim gasped.

"We won't." Gail said calmly. "We're sorry about before. Sorry for what we did. We didn't understand. We didn't know that Souls like him could exist. Evan has told us all about it. We believe him. We trust him. We trust you. We got so caught up in the idea that he would betray us that we missed the fact that there are so many other humans that are still alive and free. We want to celebrate that. We don't want to be your enemies. We want to be your friends."

"It's because of him that we're all alive and free." Rob said firmly, his mouth set. He wasn't ready to forgive just yet. I put my hand on his arm.

"It's okay." I told him. I was believing them more with every passing minute. My heart was calming down. It looked like they really meant what they said. "Let's go somewhere safe where we can all talk and get to know one another." I suggested.

"We know a place." Ellen offered.

An hour later our caravan of three SUVs and an RV made it to the spot that Ellen had mentioned. It was a campsite next to a remote lake west-southwest of Wichita Falls. It was completely empty at this time of year and we were all able to sit around a warm campfire and chat. Nate sat next to Gail and the two of them, as the leaders of our group, went around and introduced everyone. Nate went first introducing Rob, Rachel, Kim, Blake, Tom, and me. Then he told about the twelve others back at the silo. Evan was already known to both groups but he jumped up and went around shaking everyone's hands anyway. He seemed extremely happy. He sat back down next to the girl named Ellen and eyed her with a smile. Then Gail went. She introduced Derrick, Brandon, Ellen, Greg, Susan, Kady, Alana, Peter, Kallie, and Hadley. Hadley got the most attention from our group. She hadn't appeared back at the rest stop in Wichita Falls and I now realized why. They'd kept her hidden just in case.

Hadley was an adorable seven year-old girl.

Rayne was going to be thrilled.

"You know," I told her, "I have a little girl of my own, Rayne. She is just a little older than you are. I bet she would love to meet you."

Hadley looked up at her mom, Alana, for permission before smiling shyly at me. "We could play House." She said.

"Yes you could. Rayne would love that." I looked up at her mom, "We should get them together for a playdate." I said, "I adopted Rayne after her parents were taken. She's not mine biologically, though my wife and I also do have a two month old son named Devante."

"Devante?" Derrick asked.

"Yes, it means 'one who fights for the wronged ones'."

There was silence for a moment as the group took that in, then Evan said quietly, "I didn't know that."

"Yeah, we wanted his name to mean something." I said. I was proud of my son and his name.

"Cool." Derrick said.

"So how have you been surviving all this time?" I asked Gail.

"We lived in the Houston. Underground. It was hard to stay hidden but easy to get supplies. But things got too dangerous. Now we live on the road. We're always on the move." Gail explained.

"That must be hard." Kim said.

"It is. Especially for this one." Alana said, pointing toward Hadley.

We all nodded in understanding.

"Would you like to come back to our silo with us for a rest?" Nate asked. "You'd be able to get your bearings and rest up for a while, rejuvenate, meet all our people, and make plans. We'd be happy to help you with whatever you want to do next, even if you want to stay with us."

"That's very kind. We don't want to be a bother."

"It's not a bother!" Several of our crew said at once.

"We want to help as many humans as possible." I explained.

We waited in silence as the members of the other crew communicated with each other quietly. After a moment Gail smiled at me and said "We will come for a short period of time, but only for a short time. We want to be back on the road after Christmas."

"Sounds good." Nate said.

We made our way back to Colorado in one long push. With so many drivers there was no reason to stop for any length of time so we just drove straight through. Our motorhome was followed by their three SUVs, but we mixed up the people who rode in each vehicle and I got to know most of their group by the time we finished the twelve hour drive on back roads to home.

I was excited to see Rayne but even more excited for Rayne and Hadley to meet. Hadley was shy but as far as I could tell a good girl. She hadn't had any friends her age in years, just like Rayne, so getting them together was going to be fun for all of us to watch.

We pulled into the underground bunker and went through the business of getting the door shut and re-camouflaged before I could see my family. A group had gathered in the parking area to meet us and there was excitement in the air. They saw the new vehicles and knew we had new humans with us.

I exited the motorhome and went straight into Jess's arms. Then I took my son into my arms; he'd changed so much in the time we'd been gone! Then I looked around for Rayne. Jess saw me looking and smiled, "She was on the other side of the compound, she's on her way."

"Wait until you see the surprise we have for her." I told Jess, smiling.

Gail and her crew were exiting the vehicles and I saw Hadley hovering close to Alana's side. Murmurs went up around the group— A little girl! Everyone was excited and looked around for Rayne. She appeared at the far end of the compound and started running for me.

"Rayne!" I yelled excitedly, "You'll never believe the surprise I have for you!"

She looked around and I knew the exact moment she saw Hadley. Her eyes got huge and her stride stuttered before starting up again double time. She whooped in excitement.

"You brought me a friend!" she shrieked.

Rayne changed her course and instead of aiming for me, she went straight for Hadley, taking her in her arms and giving her a huge hug. There was laughter all around until Hadley, poor shy girl that she was, overwhelmed by the moment and my exuberant daughter, shied away from her arms and slipped behind her mother. A moment later sobs echoed in the compound.

Rayne stood in front of them, utterly shocked.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, looking at me with big eyes. She backed away slowly and came over to me to hold my hand. I squeezed her into my side and held my breath.

Alana was comforting Hadley and trying to get her to look up but the little girl was inconsolable.

For a moment the only sound in the room was a little girl's sobs. Someone coughed to break the moment and suddenly everyone was on the move.

"How about we go into the Main Tennis Area to have a chat. Eric can whip something up for us to eat and we can all get to know each other." Dawn suggested. "Tom, Blake, since you already know our visitors, why don't you go help Eric in the kitchen. Kim and Rachel, you can help me find them beds."

"I'll help you." Gail said to Dawn." Dawn nodded her assent.

Everyone moved quickly leaving Alana, Hadley, Jess, Devante, Rayne, and me alone.

"I'm really sorry." Rayne said again, her eyes getting teary too.

Alana looked at her and smiled genuinely. "It's okay Rayne, thank you for welcoming us so wholeheartedly. I'm afraid that Hadley just hasn't been around children her age in a long time and she wasn't expecting it. She'll come around.

Rayne let go of my hand and walked over to the younger girl. Being very gentle and very quiet she said "My name is Rayne and I really want to be your friend."

Hadley hiccuped, wiped her nose, and looked up at Rayne, "Burns said we could play House."

"I like House, we could play house anytime you want. I have dolls too, and toys. You can share with me." Rayne said, then looked at Jess and me for approval. We nodded at her and smiled in encouragement. Rayne held out her hand, "Do you want to come to dinner with me? I can show you my play room on the way."

Hadley sniffed and nodded, taking Rayne's hand while clinging tightly to Alana with her other hand. Jess handed me Devante and then approached the girls. "Hi! My name is Jess, I'm Rayne's adopted mother. Maybe we can get dinner sent to Rayne's playroom for them and relax with them."

Alana smiled, "I'm Alana, we're so glad to be here. I'm sure in no time at all they'll be best friends."

"I'm sure you're right. Let's get going girls!" Jess said, leading the way.

I smiled as they walked away and looked down at my son. It looked like I got to be on baby duty for the night. I didn't mind.

I walked toward the Maintenance Area, or Main Tennis Area as we all called it now, cooing at my son as he made little bubbles with his mouth. It was adorable.

When I got there everyone was seated on chairs, bundled up in blankets—in the winter it was impossible to heat such a large area underground—smiling and laughing. Nate and Rob were telling stories of the early days and Derrick and Brandon were sharing some of the close calls that their group had had. New friendships were being formed, flirtations were being exchanged, and a general feeling of jubilation was in the air.

The next morning after everyone had gotten a good night's sleep Nate and I met with Dawn and Sarge to see how things had gone in our absence.

"Well, we did alright without ya, kid." Sarge said gruffly, patting me on the shoulder.

"We ran out of fresh food while you were gone." Dawn said, "But that was a minor inconvenience. We just ate rations and canned food. Eric did what he could with it."

"We might need more help in the kitchen." Sarge put in, "Eric isn't getting enough time to work on the computer with so many mouths to feed."

"Sean can do it." Nate suggested.

"Yeah, the food won't be as good, but it's more important for Eric to be on the computer and radio." I said.

"Paul and Charissa are being a pain in the ass." Sarge said.

Dawn pressed her lips together, her eyes silently agreeing, but she didn't say anything.

"What has happened that has been so annoying?" Nate asked.

"Paul thinks he knows better than all of us. He second-guesses us every time we decide something. And Charissa complains about everything, all the time. And she is attached to Paul like glue." Sarge said.

"Well, it could be worse, she could be trying to attach herself to someone else." Dawn said.

"True." Nate said.

"To make matters worse, as of this morning we're missing some No Pain from the infirmary." Dawn said.

I looked at her in concern. "How much?"

"About 6 doses worth. Not enough that we are running low but enough that I noticed."

"That is not good." I said, my heart sinking.

"Yeah. No Pain isn't addicting itself but someone with an addictive personality could get addicted to feeling like that and become obsessed with obtaining it." Dawn said.

"Do we have any suspects?" I asked.

"It could be anyone." Dawn sighed.

I sighed too. This was not going to be an easy thing for our family to go through. Stealing was a betrayal of the trust of the entire group. I didn't want to even think of the repercussions of this.

"Well, let's keep our eyes out and meet again if anyone finds something." Nate said sadly.

I stood up and made my way back to the apartment that I shared with my family. Jess was lying in bed with Devante taking a nap so I left them there and made my way toward the Main Tennis Area. I saw Rayne's playroom off to the side and peeked my head in.

The room looked like a bomb had gone off in it. In the center of the explosion of toys of all kinds, Hadley and Rayne sat knee-to-knee playing with two dolls. They were both giggling. Alana sat in the corner reading a book. I caught her eye and she smiled.

"They've been playing all morning," She mouthed silently.

I made the motion of a bomb with my hands, gesturing to the room. She nodded and laughed into her book.

"They can clean it up later" I mouthed back.

I walked through the Main Tennis Area and saw everyone eating lunch. It was a loud, raucous atmosphere but it was full of laughter and fun. I was not happy, though. I was sad. And disappointed. And upset. One of these people had stole some No Pain for unauthorized use. My humans had betrayed my trust. What was I going to do about it?


	53. Consternation

Supper was a simple affair. To give Eric a night off, we had a buffet of sandwich fixings and salad. I sat next to Jess, Alana, Hadley, Rayne, and Brandon.

Rayne was pulling apart her sandwich piece by piece, snobbishly declaring that she didn't like the bread or the meat or the cheese or the lettuce. Hadley sat next to her, quietly devouring her sandwich before asking her mother in a timid tone, "Is there more food?"

Alana looked at me questioningly. I suddenly and sadly realized that these humans had been going without for a long time. I stood up immediately and made an announcement.

"Everyone can have seconds or thirds. We have plenty."

The rush to the table was heart-breaking. Every member of Gail's crew had stood up immediately. I noticed other members of my family observing the rush with wide eyes. They had noticed how gaunt the members of Gail's crew were, but they hadn't realized that Gail's crew hadn't felt free to eat their fill while they were our guests. It was sobering.

Jess touched my knee and leaned in to give me a kiss. "I think we all have a lot to be thankful for tonight, and the fact that we have you is at the top of my list."

Behind me I heard gruff coughing as someone else patted my back. "I agree." Sarge said, "Things would be a lot harder without you."

I could feel my face flushing in embarrassment. All I'd done was try to save a few people. It wasn't much. I didn't say anything out loud, though. Instead I focused on my daughter. "Rayne, you have to eat the whole sandwich. No complaining."

She stuck her nose up at me but, after her mother said "Rayne…" in a warning tone, she finally picked up her sandwich, made a face, and took a bite. I was going to have to watch her or she was going to be feeding Cole sandwich meat under the table.

After supper I stood up and made my way to my office. I was meeting with Nate, Dawn, and Sarge again tonight. We had a thief to find.

When I got there I stood up short, seeing Gail sitting in one of the chairs. "Hi Gail, um, we're going to be having a meeting here in a few minutes." I began, unsure of what to say to her to get her to go away.

"Oh I know, Dawn invited me." She said.

"Oh, in that case, it'll just be a few moments before we get started, I think." I said, wondering if Nate's theory about not telling people applied to Gail too.

Sarge and Nate arrived together. Both of them looked surprised to see Gail, but they hid it from her well. Dawn arrived last. She immediately saw our unease with having Gail there and got straight to the point. "Hello everyone, sorry I'm late. I took the liberty of inviting Gail to our meeting today not only because you men have me outnumbered but because I think it's a good idea for her to know about our dilemma so that she can assist us. She has my total trust."

I exchanged a silent look with Nate who shrugged, as if he was saying "why not" but Sarge's face was completely blank. Not hearing an objection I nodded and said, "that's fine, but she has to promise not to say anything to her people."

"Well why don't you tell me what secret I'd be keeping from them before I promise something like that." Gail countered.

This time it was Nate who looked at me and me who shrugged. We were in this far already, it seemed sort of silly to kick her out now. Nate sighed and stood up to pace.

"Shortly after we returned to the silo, a few doses of No Pain were stolen from our infirmary. Because it was after we returned it could have been anyone. In either group."

"Are you sure that it wasn't stolen before we got back? Do we have any suspects? Does anyone else know?"

Dawn answered for all of us. "Yes I'm sure it was stolen after you got back. No we don't have any suspects that I know of, and only the people in this room know."

Gail nodded, appearing pensive. "I don't think any of my people would do this, but I can't be sure.

"Well," I said, "Let's start going through names and see what we can come up with."

"What good is that going to do?" Dawn asked kindly, "Unless we have some evidence all that that is going to do is give us a list of bad qualities about every person. We need to get out there and watch them. See if anyone is acting strange. And we need to have 24-hour surveillance on the infirmary.

"If we need 24-hour surveillance then we're going to need to bring Eric in on this. Can he be trusted?" I asked.

"Even though he's grouchy, my instinct is probably yes." Nate said.

"I disagree." Sarge said. "I think we should question him first and then ask for surveillance after we know he's clear."

"I don't want to admit it, but Sarge is right. We needed to question him first." I said, troubled. What was our little family coming to, if I had to question them to see if they were being honest?

"Let's do it as quickly as possible. Don't worry Burns, Sarge and I can handle this one." Nate said. The look on my face must have given him a clue about how upset I was that we were forced to do this.

Inwardly I was relieved. I didn't want to be part of the group that questioned him.

"I'll go get him." I said.

I stood up and trudged out the door. I walked down the large hallway toward Eric's lair. When I got there I found Eric hunched over a huge sub sandwich, chewing loudly.

"Hey Eric, can you come with me for a minute?" I asked him as nicely as I could. "We have some business that we need you to see to."

"Wha…" He said around a giant bite, "I'llcome inasec."

"I'm afraid we need you right now." I said firmly. He rolled his eyes and stood up, still chewing. Bringing his sandwich along he followed me out the door and down the hall. I arrived in my office with him trailing slowly behind me.

"Be as nice as you can." I told Sarge and Nate, "we don't want our own people to turn against us."

"Huh?" Eric said, overhearing what I said, "what is this about?"

"We just need you to do some surveillance for us here in the compound but first we need to question you about something." Nate said.

I left the room to Eric's confused face and Nate's grimace.

While I waited for them to finish I made my way back toward Rayne's playroom. She and Hadley had been inseparable for the last two days. I peeked my head inside and found Jess and Alana sitting in chairs on the side of the room while Rayne and Hadley played house. I stole Devante from Jess's arms and sat down next to them to watch.

"Honey, I'm home!" Rayne hollered, knocking on an invisible door. "What's for dinner?"

"Tonight we have canned peaches and green beans." Hadley said proudly, showing off the food that they had gotten from the kitchen. "Let's set the table."

Together they set a table with forks, spoons, and glasses of water. When it was completed they sat down and ate with gusto.

"I wish Rayne was always that excited to eat her fruits and vegetables!" Jess whispered to me, rolling her eyes.

"She is spoiled." I replied, rolling my eyes back at her.

She smiled at me, rubbing my arm. "What are you up to?" She asked, her eyes bright, "Didn't you have a meeting tonight?"

"I did, yes, but I left for a few minutes while Nate and Sarge took care of something. I'll go back soon."

We sat in silence for a little longer while I waited for the guys to be ready for me to come back. When Nate appeared at the door, he had a grim look on his face. I got up quickly and joined him in the hall.

"What happened?" I asked urgently.

"He claims he's not the one and he's pretty pissed that we questioned him but he's just pissed enough that he's going to help us find the person who did this to clear his own name." Nate explained.

My grimace matched his own now as we both walked quickly down the hall. I was afraid of this. Maybe it would have been better if I had done the questioning, uncomfortable though it may have been.

We arrived in the room to find Eric scowling into a computer. He was typing quickly, seemingly engrossed so I didn't say anything to him. After a moment he looked up.

"Well, we have two options. I can take a camera off of our perimeter, which means we'll be down a camera, or I can order a new one and Burns can have it mailed to the farmhouse."

"I think that for the sake of time, we should use one of the cameras we already have." I said. Nate and Sarge nodded. They agreed. "Which one do you suggest, Eric? I can go get it."

"The second one on the main door is probably the best one. We have two angles on that area and probably can get away with one." Eric said stiffly.

"I'll be right back." I said. Nate tagged along and the two of us made our way out toward the main door. It took us about 15 minutes to unhook it and bring it back. When we got there Eric did a few tech things to it and then pronounced it ready to go up in the infirmary.

"We want it pointing toward the med cabinet, right?" I said.

"Yeah, that makes the most sense." Sarge replied.

"Okay, well let's go get it installed." I prodded.

"We can't just install it now. We need to do it at night when no one is awake." Gail put in. I'd almost forgotten her but she was squeezed into a corner of my office behind Sarge.

"Oh, right, I guess that's true." I said. I wasn't good at this spying stuff.

Taking Gail's advice, we waited until everyone was in bed to install the camera. We finished getting it attached to the ceiling in the room but hadn't hooked it up yet when Jess arrived at the door to the infirmary.

"I've been looking for you." She said, "Are you coming to bed?"

"I'll come now." I said, following her out of the room. They didn't need me for the rest of it anyway.

The two of us walked back to our apartment together, hand in hand.

"What was that all about?" She asked.

"You can't tell anyone." I said.

"Okay. I won't. Now what was it about?"

"Someone has been stealing No Pain from the infirmary." I said after a pause.

There was silence for a long moment before she asked, "Do you have any suspects?"

"Not really. We know it wasn't any of us but it could be anyone else." I said, my voice sad.

"Oh Burns. Please don't hate me. I took the No Pain."

I stopped right in the middle of the hall and whispered fiercely at her, "It was you? Why?"

"I've just been so tired and in pain since I had Devante and I wasn't able to keep up with Rayne and I wanted to be a good wife to you. I thought if I had some No Pain to take on the bad days I'd be able to be the wife you deserve. I just hurt all the time." She sniffed.

"Oh my dear." I said, taking her into my arms. "Why didn't you ask for it?"

"I did, right after Devante was born. Dawn told me I had had enough."

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked sadly.

"Oh Burns, I should have. I should have. I'm so sorry. Please don't tell the others. I just have been in so much pain since I got sick and with Devante it's just been too much. I'm failing as mother."

I sighed. We didn't have to tell everyone but Gail, Nate, Dawn, Sarge, and Eric would all have to be told. My heart went out to Jess, wishing I'd known about her pain. She sobbed quietly in my arms.

"You are not failing as a mother."I said, "but we will have to tell Dawn and Nate and them. We won't tell everyone, though." I soothed her, "But honey, you have to stop trying to be everything for everyone. You have to accept that you have limitations. There are tons of adults here to share the load. Try not to burden yourself with all of it. And stealing is never, ever an option." I said. "I'll meet you in the room. I need to go tell them that I know who did it." I paused for a second before adding, "I love you."

She sniffed and nodded, whispering back, "I love you too," before turning to walk slowly back toward our room. My heart sank, knowing I'd failed as a husband. My wife had been in unbearable pain and I hadn't even noticed. She'd never fully recovered from her bout with West Nile a few years ago and her pregnancy had been hard on her. The Souls had medication to make her better, but our access to the really effective stuff was limited so our supply was used only for emergencies. I didn't have a Healer certification to get more so we had to steal what we needed and that was hard for me to do. I would need to do better for my family. I would need to support Jess more and get over my hesitation to steal the supplies we needed. If I'd been paying attention this never would have happened. I felt rotten.

I got back to where Nate and Eric were finishing the camera install under Dawn and Sarge's watchful eyes.

"We don't need to finish that. I know who took it." I said, my voice shaking.

"Oh? Who was it?" Nate asked, not noticing my mood.

"Jess."

That one word made Eric look up from his desk in surprise and Nate turn around to look at me in shock.

"Jess?" Sarge and Nate said together.

"Yes, she never fully recovered from the West Nile and she got No Pain during Devante's birth and wanted more. She said she'd been feeling like a failure as a mother and was too tired and stressed, and she asked Dawn for more but Dawn said no, so she took some in desperation. It's my fault. I have been gone and not helping her with the baby and I didn't notice that she was so tired. I'm so sorry."

The room was silent for a few minutes while everyone digested this news. Finally Dawn said, "I'm sorry too. I didn't even think of her when I was trying to think who would take it. But she has been tired lately. Being a new mother really takes it out of you and she hasn't been 100% for a while."

"What do we do?" I asked, praying silently that they decided to just let her get away with an apology.

"Tonight, we don't do anything except get the meds back from her and turn on the camera. From now on, even though we know who took them this time, we're leaving that camera on. I've already asked Eric to order another one for the main entrance to replace it. We have too many people in this compound to go without a camera in the infirmary." Sarge said. "I understand why the poor girl took it but we can't let it happen again. It's best if no one else knows about this. We don't want to put any ideas into anyone else's heads."

Nate and Dawn nodded their agreement. Eric just looked mad, but that was normal for him so I wasn't sure if it was due to Jess or not.

"Thank you." I breathed, relieved. I turned to go and found Dawn at my side.

"I'll come to retrieve the meds." She said as she matched my pace. I nodded.

"We're lucky to have you." I said, my voice still subdued.

"No. We're lucky to have you." She responded. I sighed in exasperation.

"I've let her down." I bit out, frustrated, "She did this because I haven't been carrying my weight as a father. I've let her down."

"All mothers feel this way with their first child." Dawn reassured me, "Jess didn't do it because she wanted a high. She did it because she wanted to survive. Now that I know I'll help her more."

"Me too." I said sadly.

We arrived at the door to our apartment and I knocked. Normally I'd just go right in but I wanted to give her some warning that someone was with me. After a moment I opened the door and quietly called, "Jess!"

She arrived at the door, the tablets of No Pain in her hand. She'd been crying some more and Dawn hugged her before she took the meds back.

"We'll talk more in the morning." She said before she took her leave. I closed the door behind her and then turned to my wife.

"I'm so sorry I haven't been around." I said, "I'll do better."

"Oh Burns, you've been busy taking care of everyone. I understand. I'm sorry I took them. I was just so desperate for help and I didn't know who to ask."

"Ask me. From now on, you tell me any time you need extra help. I'm going to stay put for the next few weeks until you're feeling better." I said, my decision made. "From now on it'll be us together. I'm sorry I let you down."

I took her in my arms and just stood there rubbing her back as she cried. I had a knot in my stomach, knowing that I'd pushed her into this. From now on I would do better. There was no other choice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this was a tough chapter to write, not just because of the content. It was hard to write because I'm fighting writer's block and I'm dealing with some work stuff and it was just a rough week. I'll try to get the next chapter out more swiftly than I did with this one. It took me over a week to even decide who stole the No Pain and another few days to convince myself to write it. It may not have been a likable chapter, but please review anyway, I need some momentum here!


	54. Exoneration

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this is short but I'm making up for it by posting a few at once!

Jess and I talked for hours the next morning. She told me all about how she'd felt overwhelmed and alone and I apologized for not being around since the birth of our son. She apologized, profusely, for taking the No Pain. I forgave her.

Dawn forgave her too, but for possibly the first time ever she agreed with Sarge about something: installing cameras in the infirmary anyway. Her eyes were sad and I knew that she was disappointed it had come to this. She'd had a Soul in her head for ten years and knew how we thought and sometimes she was more like a Soul than like a human. I was grateful for her.

Sarge was gruff, never outright saying he forgave Jess but he took Rayne most afternoons afterward and did many things to lighten my load. I was thankful for him, too.

Nate was grim, balancing his friendship with Jess with his need to be fair to the rest of the group. Since no permanent harm was done and Jess had returned all 6 doses before she'd taken any, he was willing to keep the matter quiet, but he did insist that Jess spend some time in counseling with Dawn. She agreed to that without complaint. I was grateful for him, too.

Gail's eyes narrowed and her lips thinned when we told her what happened, but she said "your family, your business," and didn't bring it up again. I was thankful she dropped it at that.

All in all it'd been a resounding shock to my system. I had been happy with my life and never noticed how unhappy Jess was. I was disgusted with myself and made myself a promise, there and then, to never be absent like I had been again. My job as the Soul in this family forced me to leave at times, but even if I was physically gone, I'd make sure I was always emotionally present in Jess's life and the lives of our children. I'd learned my lesson, just as she had learned hers.


	55. Precession

Winter:

"Dad, can Hadley stay longer?" Rayne asked, her voice close to a whine. She leaned into my office, balancing on one foot, holding onto the door frame.

"Honey, we've talked about this. They always planned to leave after Christmas and they've stayed a whole month since then. It's time for them to go."

"But I don't want her to go!" Rayne whined. "I want her to stay. I don't want to lose my friend."

"No whining, Rayne. This is the way it is. I promise you'll see each other again. We'll have a big going away party for them and you can give Hadley a present before she leaves to tell her how much you'll miss her, but they aren't staying any longer."

Rayne sniffed and entered my office to sit on my lap. She was getting big for this at nearly 11 years old but occasionally she still wanted a snuggle. I knew that Hadley leaving was going to be tough for her. The younger girl had brought fresh life to this compound and the two of them had become best friends.

"What do you want to give her as a going-away present?" I asked her.

"I think Stormy." She said, referring to her second-favorite doll, "It's her favorite."

"I think that's a nice idea." I approved.

The next day the whole crew gathered in the Main Tennis Area for a going away party. The ladies had managed to bake a huge cake and someone had even found some balloons. Derrick, Peter and Brandon were drinking beers with Nate, Rob, Sean, Davy, Johnny, and Blake. Gail and Greg, and Dawn and Sarge were playing Pinochle at a corner table. Charissa and Paul were off in another corner by themselves, as usual. Kim and Tom were talking quietly with Kady—Tom was edging closer to Kim with every passing minute—while Susan, Kallie, and Alana were watching Hadley and Rayne play while playing with Hope and Devante with Jess and Rachel. Eric was in his office, ignoring all of us, but that was normal. Everyone was happy, but someone was missing.

"Where is Evan?" I asked Jess, walking over to steal a kiss.

She looked around and shrugged after a minute. "Probably somewhere with Ellen."

Ah. Ellen. The boy was absolutely smitten with her. The primary reason why the group had stayed as long as they did was because the two of them kept coming up with excuses for them to stay. The rest of us had put up with it for a while, laughing about their puppy love. But maybe it was something more?

I went off looking for him. First I checked the kitchen, then the infirmary, the offices, the girls' playroom. They weren't in any of those places. Next I went to the apartment he shared with Blake, Tom, and Sean. I didn't find them there. Finally I checked the pod that we were turning into a greenhouse.

I walked in quietly. I heard them talking over behind one of the water canisters.

Ellen was crying. "I don't want to leave you."

"You don't have to, I'll talk to Nate and Gail. You can stay here with me, or I'll come with you." Evan responded, his voice ringing with determination. "I keep telling you, I love you. I want you to stay."

"Are you sure? Are you sure you want me?" She asked.

At that point I knew I couldn't listen to this private conversation any longer without announcing myself. I cleared my throat loudly and yelled, "Evan? Ellen?"

"Yeah, we're here. Hold on a minute." Evan said immediately.

A moment later a red-eyed Ellen and stubborn-looking Evan appeared out from behind the large water canister holding hands tightly.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"If Ellen wants to stay here, she can, right Burns?"

I made myself pause for a moment before I answered carefully, "I don't have a problem with it. Ellen is an adult and can do what she likes. We have plenty for anyone who wants to stay here. But out of respect I think you should probably talk to Nate and Gail and let them know what you want. Do either of them know that that's what you want?"

"No, I haven't told anyone except Evan." Ellen said shakily. She gave me a wobbly smile, "Do you really think it'd be okay if I stayed here?"

"Of course I think it would be!" I said, "Why wouldn't it?"

"Really?" She asked, her mouth forming a surprised smile, "You're ok with it?"

"Of course I am! The more the merrier! Especially if you and Evan are, well, you know. I mean, you should be together, right? Let's go get Gail and Nate and tell them." I said, "No reason to delay now."

"Yeah." Evan said smiling. He tugged on Ellen's arm and led her out of the Garden Pod. I followed them out.

We got Gail and Nate out of the party and brought them into my office. I opened my mouth to tell them what was going on and then realized that I should probably just let Evan and Ellen do the talking. I turned to them and nodded, urging them forward.

Still holding hands, they both started to speak at once, stopped and then laughed. Evan continued on his own. "Ellen would like to stay here with us. She wants to stay with me here."

Nate smiled broadly and clapped Evan on the shoulder, "You sly dog!" he laughed, "of course she can stay here!"

"Oh honey." Gail said, taking Ellen into her arms. The two women hugged for a long time before Gail said, "Are you sure you don't want to come with us? Evan could come with us too."

Ellen stepped out of the hug and looked at Evan. The two of them had a silent conversation for a moment before she shook her head sadly, tears welling up in her eyes. "I love you all and I'll never forget you and I hope you come back to visit a lot, but I think it's safer here to raise a family." She blushed.

Evan turned a bit red himself as he took her hand and pulled her to his side. "We want to get married."

"Well then, I don't see why I would stop you." Gail said, giving the two of them another hug.

Spring:

"Cheers!" Everyone yelled, clinking glasses.

"Kiss, kiss, kiss!" Nate yelled, every bit his troublemaker self. Evan and Ellen laughed and leaned in to acquiesce. The bride was resplendent in a gown of yellow, the groom proud in his jeans and flannel. They were the picture of happiness. It reminded me of my own wedding and I leaned in to get a kiss from my wife. She gave it happily, squeezing my hand. It'd been a good few months. I'd been home the entire time, setting up the Garden Pod. we now had vegetables growing of all types in our hydroponic garden on the upper floors, and on the ground floor Jess, Rachel, Kim, Tom, Ellen, Evan, and Blake were making a paradise. A little outside magic for the occupants of the compound who were stuck inside every day of the year. It was sure to be a beautiful oasis once it was done. Indeed, they had only just finished planting all the baby plants and it already looked amazing.

I tugged Jess's hand and pulled her out onto the "dance" floor, a cleared area in the Main Tennis Area. I pulled her close and led her around the floor. Beside me Evan and Ellen were holding each other close, Paul and Charissa were swaying side by side, and Rob and Rachel were moving along. Nate pulled Rayne onto the floor and the two of them swung by us, giggling and bumping into everyone else. I smiled at them then focused back on my wife. She was quiet today, but I was learning that quiet wasn't always a bad thing. Sometimes my wife just got overwhelmed with the chaos of living closely with 20 other people and needed time to herself.

"Wanna sneak away with me?" I whispered to her, wiggling my eyebrows for effect. She smiled at me and raised her own eyebrow in response.

"What are you suggesting, Mr. Flowers?" She asked.

"Oh, I don't know, Mrs. Flowers. Maybe I just want to make out with you in private." I replied.

She grabbed my hand and pulled me along after her. Instead of returning to the apartment that we shared with Rayne and Devante, she led me to the Garden Pod. This place was becoming the "place" for couples, I realized, then laughed. Once we got there we hid behind one of the newly planted bushes and sat on the newly rolled out sod. I leaned into her embrace, reveling in her touch and the feeling of being in love. Things were just getting good when a bang echoed behind us. Both of us sat up quickly, our hair mussed and our clothes awry, laughing silently at being caught. We turned to greet our interrupters, smiles on our faces when suddenly Jess pulled me back further behind the bush.

"Shhh!" She mouthed silently. She turned around and peeked out around the greenery, then popped back behind it, her face dead red.

"It's Tom and Kim!" She whispered at me. The sounds of the water purifiers and hum of the generators drowned her out, but I got what she said. I felt my face turning red, too. We had to get out of here! I made a move to leave and was shoved back into my place by my wife.

"No!" She mouthed at me, "We've been waiting for him to make a move for forever, we cannot mess this up!"

"Huh?" I mouthed back, totally confused. Who was "we" and what were they waiting for exactly? Anyone could see that Tom had been interested in Kim for ages.

"Just shut up and stay still." She mouthed back at me, shoving me down again. She turned excitedly and cocked her head to hear better.

"So that was nice." Tom was saying.

"Yeah, it was nice." Kim responded.

"It um, made me think about some things." Tom said

"What things?" Kim asked, sounding hopeful.

"Well, um, are your brothers still, um, you know?" Tom stumbled.

"What?" Kim asked, confused.

"I mean, your brothers love you a lot, right?" Tom mumbled.

"Yes, they do. I love them too. That's what happens when you escape the end of the world together. You get crazy close to each other." Kim explained, her voice questioning.

"Right. I guess that's true." Tom said. "It's just that, your brothers, they said some things, and I don't…"

"Hold up." Kim said abruptly, cutting him off. "My brothers said what things exactly? Did they scare you off me? Are they the reason you've taken so long to make a move?"

"A what? I mean, yeah, they said some things, but what do you mean waited so long? Do you want me to make a move?"

"Oh my God."

Silence followed and beside me Jess was beaming, doing little fist pumps in the air.

We waited for several minutes. Then several more minutes. Then several more minutes. After a length of time in which I was severely uncomfortable Kim finally broke the silence.

"I'm going to kill my brothers."

"You're going to kill your brothers?" Tom repeated, bemused.

"Yes. They are dead. I can't believe they scared you off me. And while we're on it, what are you, some lame ass man who won't make a move because some girl's brothers tell you not to?"

"Hey! What do you think me bringing you in here was for, anyway?" Tom defended himself. "It might have taken me a while to work up the nerve, but that wasn't all your brothers fault. I had no idea you felt anything for me."

"I've been letting you hang around me knowing you liked me for months. If I hadn't liked you I would have been avoiding you, dumbass."

More silence followed. Jess was laughing silently, tears streaming down her face. A moment later the door opened and shut, signaling our chance to get out of here. Jess stood up, stretched, and pulled me up behind her.

"Rachel is gonna freak." She announced.

Summer:

"I'm going to kill them." Nate said, his usually sunny face was stormy as he stomped into my office.

"Kill who? And I do hope you mean figuratively kill, because you know I cannot condone literal killing here." I said lightly.

"Paul and Charissa. They snuck out."

I stood abruptly, now panicked. "They snuck out? To where? Did they take a car? Did they take a phone? A radio? Do we know where they are? When they're coming back?"

"I don't know where they are, they didn't take a phone, they did take a car, and they left a note saying they'd be back tonight at 9 PM."

I started pacing my office. This was not good.

"Call a family meeting. We need to see if anyone knows where they went." I told Nate.

Fifteen minutes later the entire family, minus Jess and the children, was gathered in the cafeteria. Nate and I stood together at the front of the room and quieted everyone down. They'd all counted and figured out who was missing.

"People, please, be quiet." I said. "As you may have figured out by now, Paul and Charissa have snuck out."

An uproar followed. The twins Johnny and Davy both shot up out of their seats and started yelling while Rob and Rachel exchanged worried glances.

"Please, please, everyone," Nate said, "We need to know if any of you know where they are or what they're doing."

Silence greeted the question. I sighed in exasperation. "No one heard anything?"

"They keep to themselves." Ellen said quietly.

"Yeah." Evan agreed.

"Paul has been acting restless lately." Sarge put in, his brows furrowed.

"And Charissa was whining about wanting something the other day, what was it?" Dawn said, looking around for help.

"She wanted a meal out." Eric said, "she doesn't like my cooking."

"Fantastic. So what are they going to do. Walk into a restaurant and sit down and eat like they are Souls?" Blake asked.

"I sure hope not." Kim said worriedly. She was the only one who had been able to befriend Charissa, but even she hadn't been able to get close to her. Beside her Tom patted her hand and put an arm around her shoulder, ignoring a glare from Blake.

"So what are we gonna do?" Sean asked, his arms crossed.

"I'll go after them. None of you can come though." I said.

"If they left a note saying they'd be back at 9 PM, maybe we should wait until then for you to go after them. Maybe everything will be fine." Rachel pleaded, her voice hopeful.

I hesitated, torn. On the one hand I had no idea where they were and I was supposed to be out of town right now. I couldn't just go out for a drive and look for them. If my neighbors saw me out and about they'd have questions that would need answering. On the other hand, if I didn't find Paul and Charissa first, someone else might. But it was 5 PM now, so only four hours until they said they'd be back. Could we afford to wait?"

"I think this is time for a vote." Nate said. "Who thinks Burns should go out looking for them now?" He waited for responses. Only two people raised their hands. "And who thinks that we should all wait until 9 PM, while listening to the Seeker radio channels, and Burns should go out then if they don't return?" The rest of the family raised their hands. It was decided. I'd wait until 9 PM.

—

Waiting was agony. The family clung together in the Main Tennis Area, playing games, watching movies, doing anything just to forget what was going on. In Eric's office he and Nate listened to the Seeker radios, flipping through the channels every few minutes trying to see if anyone had spotted them. Everyone was at risk because Charissa and Paul went out. If they were caught they could lead Seekers back here. This was a serious, serious problem. My stomach was in knots as I paced back and forth between the Main Tennis Room, Eric's office, and the car port. By 5:30 I was all packed and ready to go out at any minute but instead I just sat around waiting some more. People were getting on each others' nerves. Jess and Rachel played with the kids and exchanged nervous glances. No one was at ease in this environment, even Rayne knew something was wrong. As the minutes ticked closer to 8 PM the tension in the room rose.

Suddenly Nate shot out of the office. "They've been spotted outside Denver!"

I was instantly alert. "Where?"

"Aurora. In a restaurant. The Seekers are 20 minutes out."

He handed me a sheet of paper with the address on it and I was running to the car. I got in it and out of the car port in record time and was flying down the interstate, speed limit be damned, within 10 minutes. I held my cell phone in one hand the whole time, waiting for a call from home that said it had all been a mistake but it never came. Instead Nate called to update me, saying that they had left the restaurant and were on the move, presumably back to the silo. They had their car make, model, and plates. The Seekers would be chasing them down soon. I pressed the pedal down lower to the floor of the car, going faster than I'd ever driven. My eyes were peeled for a sign of their car coming the opposite direction on the interstate. Fifteen minutes after I left the house I saw who I thought to be them. I found the next turn off, flipped an illegal U-turn, and chased after them.

Getting behind them I flashed my lights. They saw who I was and— thank goodness—pulled over. I got out and threw my keys and phone at Paul. "No time to chat. Seekers are coming. I'll divert them. Take my car and get off the interstate. Make your way home. Call the others and tell them what is going on."

Charissa pouted and said "But…" But I was already in their car. I waited for Paul to push her into the car and pull out in front of me. I watched them take the next exit. Then I pulled back out onto the highway and drove under the speed limit.

Not two minutes later flashing lights shone behind me. I complied with the officer like a good Soul and pulled over, my heart pounding. I hadn't had a chance to think up a good story, so I was going to have to wing it.

I wasn't given the chance to tell a story, though, because the Seekers approached the vehicle with their guns out.

"Hands on the wheel! Right now!" The Seeker yelled, his flashlight and gun in my face. I put my hands on the steering wheel and looked straight ahead, flinching away from the gun, knowing that they had seen the reflection in my eyes and knew I was a Soul.

"Where are the humans?" The Seeker yelled at me.

"The humans?" I asked.

"Yes, the humans who were in this car? Where are they?" He yelled again.

"This is my car. I don't know any humans." I responded, hoping my voice sounded bewildered.

"Pop your trunk!" He demanded.

I popped my trunk, hoping that there wasn't anything in there that could give us away. But he didn't even sift through the stuff that was in there, he just slammed it closed upon finding no humans in it. He came back up to the front of the car and peered closely at my face, then he reached around my neck and felt for my nearly-invisible scar. He seemed satisfied for the moment and lowered his gun and flashlight.

"License and Registration please."

I complied quickly. He scanned the items and handed them back, his face scrunched in confusion.

How did you come across this car tonight, sir?" He asked.

"I own this car. I was driving home." I said.

"How long have you owned it?"

"A year and a half."

"Where did you drive it tonight."

This was the question that I had to answer carefully. "From my house in Boulder to here, I was on my way to my farm in Deer Trail." I said.

"Did you go through Aurora?"

"Yes." They would have the car on traffic cams.

"Can you explain to me how a restaurant in Aurora reported two humans getting into this car and driving away a half an hour ago?"

I produced my best look of shock and said, "No! They must have gotten the license wrong or something!"

"Can anyone verify your whereabouts tonight?" The Seeker asked.

"No. I live alone." I said sadly. "I'm sorry officer, I wish I could help you, but I don't know what happened. I promise you I've been alone all night, and this is my car."

"Yes, well, since they aren't here I'm just going to have to believe you." He said rudely. "Please don't leave town or stay anywhere other than your residence. We will be by to ask some followup questions soon."

I did my best to smile at him and said, "No problem. I hope you catch them!" before he tapped my hood and let me drive away. I wasn't under any delusions, though. I knew they would be watching me. Instead of driving back to the silo I drove straight to the white farmhouse. Once there I called the silo and spoke to Nate and Jess. First I asked about Paul and Charissa. They assured me that they'd made it back safely but that the entire family was upset with them and everyone was going to have a meeting tomorrow to discuss it. Second I told them about my run-in with the suspicious Seeker. Knowing I'd been suspected of helping humans before and that he had my name and address now, I knew I needed to stay above-ground for a while. So I wished them luck with whatever they decided to do with Charissa and Paul and told Jess I loved her and hung up, my heart aching. My promise to Jess was in ruins. I'd promised to be around more often and now I was stuck in the farmhouse living alone for who knew how long.

Fall:

I wiggled in my seat, doing my best to stretch as I rode in the harvester, but it didn't work. I was sore and tight from hours upon hours sitting down and I couldn't find relief. I hired helpers to do most of the work but I was paranoid about the fields above and around the silo so I did those myself. The work was exhausting, but we were almost done. I had another day, maybe two, in the harvester and we'd be finished. I was relieved. I hadn't seen Jess or Rayne or Devante in days, hadn't spent a night with them in two months. Not since the night Paul and Charissa had gone out for a night on the town had I been able to sleep in my own bed in the silo with Jess. I had been unofficially watched for a full month and by the time they were gone it was time for harvest and my crew had moved into the house so I was expected to be there. I was miserable.

Sarah was back cooking this year for harvest and she was back to goading me about the "girlfriend" that she thought I had. Little did she know that I was a happily married man. She was a little too observant for my taste, though, and I kept getting the feeling that she knew something about me that I didn't want her to know. Because of that, while I might have snuck down to the silo under other circumstances, in this case I couldn't because I didn't want Sarah to notice anything out of the ordinary. So I stayed above ground, alone and unhappy.

I wasn't the only one who was unhappy. Charissa and Paul had been making everyone's lives miserable, from what I heard. Charissa whined all the time and Paul continued to question everything that the leadership of our family did. They had only apologized for their little stunt after it'd been made clear to them that they had to. Neither of them were sorry that they almost got everyone killed and nearly blew my cover. They were very unlikable people.

The day passed slowly, and the next, and I was finally on my doorstep again wishing all of my crew a happy fall and thanking them for helping again this year. Just like last year, Sarah was the last to leave.

"Well kiddo," She said, "Looks like that's it. I hope to be back next year, this has been fun."

I nodded my agreement. "Yes, it has."

She looked at me oddly, "Liar." She accused, "You have been miserable this whole time."

I tried to cover the shock on my face but I knew I didn't do a good job. Instead I said, "I'm so sorry if I offended you for lying just now."

"You didn't offend me. I just find you an odd duck." She said, wrinkling her forehead. "Any news on when that girlfriend of yours is going to get here? You could use some good news in your life."

"No, they said it will be years." I replied, treading carefully. This woman was too persistent and observant!

"Well, for your sake I hope it's sooner." She said placidly, patting my cheek. She picked up her bag and made her way to her car, climbing in and starting it. She rolled down the window and waved one last time before she drove off. I waved back at her and let her go. As soon as she was out of sight I was tearing out of the house toward my car. I could make it to the silo before dinner if I hurried.

I got in and drove the mile to the car port. Nate was there to let me in, a huge smile on his face.

"Long time, no see, buddy!" He said, opening my car door.

"I know, I feel like it's been forever. Where are Jess, Rayne, and Devante?" I asked.

"Just sitting down to dinner with the rest of us. Let's go surprise them!"

I nodded my assent and followed him down the hall toward the cafeteria. Stepping into the room, I prepared myself to get Rayned on. Sure enough, 80 lbs of hyperactivity came barreling for me. I held out my arms and lifted her up, swinging her around as we both laughed. Setting her down I kissed Jess who had come up behind her and then reached over to take ahold of Devante. I was home and all was right in the world.

Everyone else was crowding around to say hello also, Rob clapped me on the back, Rachel gave me a hug, Evan high-fived me, and Blake shook my hand. I was all smiles until I saw Paul and Charissa sitting off by themselves, ignoring the rest of us. Rob noticed the direction of my gaze and said, "Don't worry about them. We have someone watching them 24/7."

I nodded, suddenly brought back down to Earth. The two of them were total loose canons. I had no idea what they were going to do next. They hadn't stepped out of line since their adventure two months ago but I was still suspicious. Having Seekers drop by my house unannounced for a month had taught me to anticipate everything and be suspicious of everyone. I was no longer the naive Soul I'd once been.

Still, I was happy to be home.


	56. Occassion

Paul and Charissa were getting on my nerves.

I usually had a very patient demeanor, but Paul and Charissa tried my temper. When Paul wasn't questioning what we were doing, Charissa was complaining about it. The two of them were throwing off the harmony of the group. No one was happy with them. There was a growing movement amongst the family to have them kicked out. While I empathized with the feelings of those who wanted that, I couldn't let that happen. Not only did Paul and Charissa know too much, that was essentially murder. I'd promised myself I'd never be a part of murder again if I could help it.

So we were left with conflict resolution, and boy was that hard. Today I had Paul alone in my office. This was an unusual occurrence as Charissa was usually glued to his hip. Fortunately, of the two of them, Paul was the more reasonable. When our choices were explained to him, he sometimes understood our reasoning and came to agree with it. He just always, always questioned it before accepting it. Charissa, however, was a prima donna and would probably never get used to living underground.

Paul sat on the other side of my desk, his large frame in an filling the tiny room so even my tall, thin frame felt overpowered.

"How can I help you, Paul?" I asked, trying to control myself. I didn't know if I was shaking from nerves or anger, but I had to stop it.

"Why can't I go on the raid?" He demanded, his voice just under a yell.

I took a deep breath before I replied. "Well, Paul, there are several reasons but one of them is Charissa. She is a very difficult person and you are her partner. We need you around to keep her under control." This was only partially the truth. Paul did manage Charissa better than anyone else and I had no idea what we'd do without him but it wasn't the only reason he couldn't go on the raids. He also couldn't go because he couldn't accept orders.

Instead of arguing with me per his usual, Paul stayed strangely silent. He stood up from the desk and walked out of the room without saying another word. I sat there wondering at the strange occurrence for a moment before getting down to the rest of my afternoon. We were planning our next raid, which Paul would not be coming on, and I was pouring over maps and data for the southwestern US.

We would be visiting New Mexico this time, and I had a lot of mapping to do. The only time we'd ever run into humans was when we had been in larger cities, and from our conversations with Gail's group it sounded like those were the easier places for a large group of humans to blend in and get supplies if they were mobile. We reasoned that remote places and small towns would be more likely places for individuals, pairs or small groups of humans to hide. New Mexico was made of mostly smaller towns, with the exception of the few modest urban areas, so we had a pleasant mix of both.

My afternoon continued to be quiet and pleasant until about 4 PM. Just as I was about to put everything away for the night, Kim slipped into my office, her face wry.

"Guess what Paul did?" She prompted, her voice annoyed.

My heart sank. "What?"

"He broke up with Charissa."

For a split second I was shocked and then I realized I shouldn't be. I had all but told him that in order to go on a raid he needed to get rid of Charissa.

I hissed in irritation. "This is my fault. I told him that one of the reasons he couldn't go on a raid was because of Charissa and how difficult she was. That he was the only one who could handle her. I'll talk to him."

"Not so fast." Kim said, putting her hand on my shoulder to halt my progress out of the office. "This might be a good thing. They were impossible to deal with when they were together. Charissa's complaining pushed Paul into doing reckless things when normally he was just a loud questioner of authority. Maybe we should try them separated. We can always nudge them back together later."

I paused to consider her argument. "I can see how that would be good for Paul, but how would that be good for Charissa?" I asked, not wanting to cause undue pain to her, or break up a relationship that was meant to be together.

"Paul was an enabler. He enabled all of Charissa's complaining and wants and needs. If she doesn't have someone bowing to her every whim maybe she'll calm down. I really think they were together just for convenience anyway." She said.

I thought about it some more and realized she might be right. Kim's ideas almost always panned out, so trusting her now seemed like a good plan. I didn't understand all the ins and outs of relationships—my relationship with Jess was more of a miracle than a product of hard work—and Kim was as close with Charissa as anyone in the silo, which granted, wasn't saying much.

"You know that this may be especially tough on you, being Charissa's closest friend." I warned.

"I know." She grimaced, "I'll deal."

"Where is Charissa going to live? I asked, realizing that we had a shortage of living quarters. The room they shared would have to be turned into another male dorm as we were desperately short of them.

"Actually, I think that she can move in with Dawn while I move in with Tom." Kim replied, blushing. "Dawn won't mind."

No, Dawn wouldn't mind. Dawn was still part-Soul in her heart. She was kind and good and forgiving and would be a good influence on Charissa. That was a perfect solution.

"Make it happen." I said.

—

That night at dinner Paul joined the twins Davy and Johnny to eat for the first time. The twins looked surprised but said nothing and allowed him to sit with them. Charissa was a no-show.

The next day Paul walked into the Garden Pod where a group of us were tending to the plants and harvesting that day's vegetables for dinner.

"Can I help?" He asked.

The family members in the pod looked at each other in bewilderment while I jumped in and said "Of course you can! Just grab those sheers and come over here." I beckoned to him to join me.

He grabbed the sheers and came over quietly. Standing next to me he copied my movements and helped me harvest some lettuce.

"Why don't we cut like this?" He demonstrated, cutting off the crown of the lettuce plant. I winced.

"Because that will kill the plant. We want to cut one inch above the crown to ensure that the plant re-grows and it's here to harvest again." I explained, acting like everything was fine.

"Oh." He responded, cutting the next row correctly. He continued to pepper me with questions about every plant we harvested. I tried very hard to answer each question patiently, reminding myself that I had been the person who instigated this and that it was nice that he was offering to help.

As lunch time approached he turned to me and asked me again if he could go on the raid. I forced myself to be honest with him. "Paul, Charissa wasn't the only reason I told you no. The other reason is that you can't take an order without questioning it. Out in the field that could kill you or me or someone else on the crew. Or all of us. We can't have that. Until you learn to obey orders without questioning everything you can't be a part of the raid." I felt like I was talking to a child, and it was awful. My face heated up and I turned back to clean my sheers to busy my hands.

"Oh." He said simply, turning and stalking off. I watched him in surprise, wondering if he understood what I'd said. Well, we'd find out.

That day at lunch Charissa was a no-show again. And at dinner again. At breakfast she arrived first and was gone before anyone else had even sat down, taking food back to her room—breaking a rule we carefully enforced about keeping food (and rodents) out of the living quarters.

I watched her go with mixed feelings. Though, like Kim, I suspected that Paul and Charissa had been together more out of convenience than love, watching her mope made me sad for her. It was like she had no personal sense of self. She was entirely tied to her relationship with Paul for her identity. It was hard to watch.

As the weeks passed Paul luxuriated in his freedom. He continued to help around the silo in ways he never had before. He still peppered me and anyone else who was around with questions, but his attitude had improved considerably. Charissa, however, had become increasingly withdrawn and anti-social. She had been anti-social before, but she'd always had Paul in her corner. Now she just sat by herself, turning away the rare offer of company. She'd burned many bridges in this family and was paying for it now that she was having a hard time. The humans were not so quick to forgive. Kim and Dawn both ignored her frigidity and sat with her at meals, having conversations over her. Still, it was like she had ceased to exist in a meaningful way. She was just barely surviving.

"It's clear she's just dealing with post-break-up blues. All she needs is some chocolate, Dirty Dancing, and girl talk." Rachel said one day as the women sat in our apartment gossiping about it. I was watching Devante in the adjoining room, but I could hear them all clearly.

"Yes, well, she won't talk to anyone. What she needs is a good slap." Ellen said, her voice irritated. She maintained a nice facade with Charissa in person but behind the scenes she was fed up.

"Hey now, be nice. What she needs are girlfriends. We should try harder." Kim said.

"She doesn't want girlfriends. What she needs is someone else to be interested in, and someone to be interested in her." Jess said firmly. "Do you think we could convince Sean to make her a nice meal and ask her out? She's wasting away to nothing and that boy is fine."

"Mmhmm." The other three women agreed emphatically.

I couldn't believe it. My wife was calling another man "fine!" Sean wasn't even that good looking. Tall, honey-blond, with blue eyes, sure, but not that "fine." I grumbled to myself as I played with Devante. Our son was a bright-eyed trouble-maker now, nearly one-year-old. He was curious and playful and a complete delight to be around. I loved him. Soon I was so distracted with him that I forgot what was going on in the other room until another conversation caught my attention.

"Rayne's twelfth birthday is coming up." Jess said.

"We should do something special." Rachel said.

"Can we get Gail's group back here for a surprise?" Kim asked.

"Maybe." Ellen said, "They're probably ready for another break."

"I bet they are." Jess said, "I'll talk to Burns and see if we can invite them back. It'd be a wonderful surprise."

I let their conversation dim again as I thought about their idea. I could probably contact Gail's group and convince them to come back to the silo for a break, and we could time it for Rayne's birthday. It'd be perfect. I smiled at Devante and said "Your sister is going to be so surprised!"

—

The morning of Rayne's twelfth birthday dawned bright and clear, not that any of the residents of the silo got to see the sunrise that Rob and I did, waiting out on the road for Gail's crew to arrive. I could see my breath as I blew a breath out in my truck, and I turned the heater back on, shivering in my seat. They were due any minute now and it was our job to sneak them back into the silo without Rayne knowing. Beside me Rob rubbed his hands together and placed them on the heater.

"So Rachel is pregnant again." Rob said, smiling slyly over at me.

"No!" I said. "That's great!"

"Yeah." He responded, a smile lingering on his lips. "I want her to stay home on the next raid."

"Of course, yes." I replied. I wouldn't want Jess out there while pregnant. I wouldn't want Jess out there at all, but that was another story.

"Do you think we should fill her place with someone?"

"Well, Ellen is the obvious choice." I said. "We need another girl on the trip so Kim doesn't kill the rest of us and Ellen is experienced."

"That's what I was thinking too." Rob said, nodding approval.

"I'll tell Nate." I said. Rob nodded in response and we went back to our quiet waiting.

Fifteen minutes later the SUVs pulled up, one after the other. I got out and waved, running up to check the cars to make sure that everyone was still human. They all were, so we caravanned back to the silo. We came in the top way, through the grain silo that covered the elevator entrance, and walked down seven flights of stairs quietly. Hadley and Alana came with me to my apartment where Rayne was still asleep.

Hadley was grinning from ear to ear, so excited to see her friend Rayne again. She was holding onto her mom's hand and hopping up and down in excitement.

"Shhh!" I told her, leading her to Rayne's bed in the room she shared with Devante. Jess was waiting for us, giving Alana and Hadley a hug. We all huddled around Rayne's bed and Jess leaned in and woke her up, rubbing her back, saying "good morning honey, guess who's here."

Rayne sat up in an instant, her eyes growing wide. She immediately shrieked and grabbed the nearly-nine-year-old Hadley in a huge hug. The girls held on to each other for a long minute, shrieks turning to sobs.

"I'm just so glad t-t-t-o see you!" Rayne hiccuped.

"Oh honey." Alana said, reaching in for a hug, "We're glad to see you too. Hadley has talked of nothing else for a month."

"I think we can leave the two of you to get to know each other again." Jess said, grabbing Devante out of his crib on her way out of the room, "presents are in the Main Tennis Area when you're ready."

"We're ready!" Rayne said, jumping out of bed and grabbing Hadley's hand to pull her along.

—

Charissa was still withdrawn. Nothing we did could draw her out of her shell. I was almost tempted to ask Sean, as the girls had talked about that day, to ask her out, but I didn't want to force anyone to seek her out. She'd see through it.

I was worried that her actions were more than just a social choice, that they were now the result of a deep depression, so I asked Dawn to do an evaluation on her to see if she needed care from the pharmacy. We had some Joy, a Soul-made medicine that was for clinical depression and other psychiatric disorders, but we didn't have much of it. It was hard to get. But if she needed it, we'd find a way.

I was sitting in my office when Dawn came in.

"You were right. She has severe clinical depression. She needs a dose of Joy a day for at least six weeks. We have enough for four."

"Okay. Can it be alternated to every other day?"

"I wouldn't suggest it. She wouldn't admit it to me but I believe she was having suicidal thoughts."

"Oh. Well then yes, give it to her as much as she needs." I said, my gut clenching. Had we done this to her or had this just happened? I felt so guilty, instigating the breakup with Paul. "How is she now since her first dose?"

"Better. It works very quickly. It just wears off quickly too." Dawn replied.

"Ah. I see. Well, I'm glad she's better for now. I will find a way to get that medicine for her." I said, determined.

I closed up my office and walked with Dawn to dinner. With Gail's crew here we had a full house and meal times were a raucous affair. I loved them.

Eric was serving up the meal while Johnny, Davy, Paul, Derrick, Brandon, and Peter were standing in one corner drinking beers and talking loudly. Sarge, Gail, and Greg were playing dominos in another corner, snickering in their cups. Ellen, Evan, Kim, Tom, Rob, Rachel, Alana, and Jess were all sitting at a table in the middle of the cafeteria, eating and laughing loudly. Rayne and Hadley were sitting at a special Birthday Girl table in the center of the room while Hope and Devante stayed with their mothers. Blake, Sean, and Nate were sitting with Susan, Kady, Kallie, and Charissa. I did a double take. Charissa, who looked like an entirely different person, was sitting with a group of people talking! I looked at Dawn with amazement in my eyes.

"I'll say it works fast!"

"Yeah, it does. It's good to see her talking with people." Dawn said before joining Sarge, Gail, and Greg. I joined my wife, enjoying the atmosphere of the group. It was nice to have everyone together again. Tomorrow we would deal with the problems of the Joy and our next raid. Today, however, was a happy day. Today was my daughter's birthday. Today one of our members was feeling Joy again. It was a good day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Depression is a serious disease. I don't mean to belittle it with this depiction here, but the Souls said they could cure serious diseases, so I'm including mental illnesses in that number. I don't think even they could cure it permanently so I made the Joy short-lasting. Anyway, I hope that you all understand that I know depression is serious and I'm not trying to make light of it here. If you have depression or suicidal thoughts, please get help. There is no shame in it.


	57. Accreditation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to say a special thank-you to everyone who has commented/reviewed. THANK YOU. It means so much to me and gives me motivation to keep going. I appreciate it more than I can say. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Gail's group stayed only for a short, two-week stint this time. Rayne cried when they left but it was time for them to move on. There were too many people in the silo when they were around. I couldn't keep track of everyone.

Meanwhile our group prepared for our trip to New Mexico. This time Rachel would be staying home while Ellen would be taking her place. It was going to be a good trip, I was determined. Paul had grumbled about not being allowed to come but I was firm in my decision to make him stay and Nate backed me up. We needed people who could act as a cohesive team and Paul could not.

We left on a sunny morning, all packed up in the RV with two small cars following, the RV was pulling a trailer. Taking two cars was more risky this time, but also more convenient. We'd decided it was worth it. I could only be in once place at a time, so if the cars got pulled over it would be very bad. Our crew, however, was well-trained and ready for almost any circumstance, and we were confident in our ability to outsmart the Seekers.

We hit two small towns and one larger town in New Mexico without any human sightings before stopping off in Santa Fe. It was a beautiful town, full of art galleries and picturesque adobe houses. It had a small-town feel to it, though it was one of the larger towns we'd visit on this trip. I liked it.

We parked off on a side street, just a few blocks from the Santa Fe Plaza. Everyone who had traveled in the cars transferred to the RV quickly and quietly. When everyone was gathered we went over the plan for the night.

"Rob and Nate are leading two four-man teams. We have a list of empty warehouses and empty houses to search. Now Nate, Evan, Ellen, and I will be one team. Rob, Kim, Tom, and Blake will be the other." I said to the group.

"Stay with a buddy. However, if you go off on your own and you get in trouble, speak up immediately on your comms. If you can't speak, flash your flashlight three times. If you can't do that, scream. Don't be a hero. We want everyone to come back alive tonight." Rob said firmly.

"If you find anyone, make sure that Burns knows immediately so he can take precautions. Make sure that you break the news to them gently about Burns. We don't want to repeat last time." Nate added. Ellen grinned wryly and nodded.

"Alright, let's get out there." I said, trying not to let my anxiety show on my face. For some reason I had a bad feeling about today.

We filed out of the RV and piled into the two cars. I went with Nate, Evan, and Ellen to the first site while Rob, Kim, Tom, and Blake took the second car on to the next site. It was past 2 AM and the streets were empty. We were investigating empty houses. This was risky because Souls made use of all the housing that was available, but some of the houses were in the process of being fixed up so they were empty at night. These were the houses we were looking at.

In their half-finished state they would provide a more comfortable place for humans to hide—some of them even had air conditioning turned on already—but it was just a guess of ours that they would be used by humans. We had no idea if we were actually right. That was what this venture was for. Finding out.

Our night-vision goggles were important tonight. These houses were in mixed into occupied Soul neighborhoods. We couldn't risk getting caught by Souls. No flashlights allowed tonight except for emergency purposes. All these new houses had special electronic locking doors now, but Eric had prepared us for that before we left, hacking into the housing system here in town, and we had a list of codes, one for each house. Getting into the house was easy. We just popped the code into the front door keypad and entered. If anyone checked the logs, they'd find that someone had entered at an odd time of night, but Eric was able to wipe that too, so as long as no one checked it while we were in the house, we were fine. Everyone else was dressed in black but for the first time I was dressed as a Seeker, armed with a gun and a fake ID that Eric had made for me and entered into the Seeker system. It would check out if I had to use it.

We quickly and efficiently swept the first three houses on our list. As we drove on to the fourth house, Nate and I sat in the front while Evan and Ellen sat in the back of the car. An uncomfortable silence filled the car and Nate and I glanced at each other awkwardly, unsure of what was going on.

"So… What's new with you guys?" Nate asked inanely. It was a dumb question. We knew everything about each other, there was nothing new to find out. Evan and Ellen knew it.

"Same old, same old." Evan replied tersely. He was sitting as far away from Ellen as possible in the back of the tiny car. Something was wrong, but they weren't telling us what it was. That was fine in my opinion. Marriage problems should stay between the two who had them. It was just awkward for us to be sitting in the middle of it.

"Let's just get on with this." Ellen said, her tone closing the subject to further discussion. "Maybe we could turn on the radio?

Nate happily complied. The man couldn't stand awkward silences. The music was loopy Soul music, but it filled the silences in the car and did its job.

We rolled up to the block that the fourth house was on and got out. Instead of pairing up like usual—me and Nate and then Evan and Ellen, Ellen stepped to my side, tapped my arm, and said "why don't we be partners for this round, Burns?"

"Oh, okay." I replied. I didn't have a problem with it. Nate and I had been working as a team for years and I always felt it was safer to be with someone who knew you and who you knew had your back, but I knew Ellen pretty well too so we would be fine.

Evan was standing off to the side, having witness this conversation. He ground his jaw, then turned to Nate without a word.

We walked two by two up the sidewalk toward the house, having parked down the street so as not to give anyone in the house notice that we were there. Once we got there I shared the code for the front and back doors with Nate and then we took our positions at the front and back doors. We silently entered and Nate and I stayed at the doors guarding them while Evan and Ellen went to sweep the first and second floors.

The house appeared to be clear, so we prepared to leave. Suddenly a car pulled up outside. I frantically turned my radio from the secure channel we used to the Seeker channel we'd hacked.

"Copy. Just pulling up the house now. We'll sweep and secure."

"Abort!" I whisper-shouted into my mic. "Abort! Seekers on location. Get back to the car. I'll find my own way back."

I stuffed my night vision goggles into my pocket and pulled out the fake ID that Eric had made me. Making sure it was visible I walked out the front door, smiling into the flashlight that was pointing at my face.

"Hi there. I got here ahead of you. I just heard you on the radio, I should have spoke up but I figured I'd just come out here and explain in person."

"Hands above your head, sir, until we can confirm your identity." They flashed a light in my eye and I knew they'd confirmed I was a Soul. I held out my fake badge again, knowing that Eric had made an entire bio for me in their system and it'd check out."

"Oh! Sorry! I didn't mean to startle you! I'm Seeker Johannes. I've been following some wild humans across the state and thought I'd tracked them here. You can look up my badge number." I offered it to them.

The man in front of me took the badge and passed it on to another man who had remained in their vehicle with a laptop. While I stood with the first man, the second tapped a few keys and waited, then spoke up from the car."

"He's clear."

The flashlight was lowered and I got a good look at the Seekers for the first time. Both were young. One was a man with light colored hair and eyes—it was hard to tell in the dark— and the other a short, stocky man with dark features. They both looked relaxed and I breathed a sigh of relief that my ploy had worked.

"Have you had any sight of the humans?" I asked, keeping my voice even and casual. The first man turned to look at the second and he shrugged.

"His clearance level is higher than ours. We can tell him."

The first Seeker nodded, "Yes. On the other side of town. We just missed catching them about an hour ago."

"Oh what a bummer!" I grumbled, while inside my heart soared. Rob was on the other side of town so he might have a chance to catch them.

At that moment, a familiar car drove by. Nate was really taking chances driving by the house, but it was nice to know they'd made it back to the car safely. I wouldn't have to go check now.

"Well, I am going to continue my search on the other side of town then." I said, "I left my car a few blocks away so I'll see you gentlemen later. I might stop by the office to trade info later this afternoon." I lied.

"Sure, bye." The first Seeker said. He turned to his colleague with a raised eyebrow that I just caught as I was leaving. Hopefully they didn't follow me because I was without a car and would be calling a Nate as soon as I was out of the neighborhood.

I got to walking toward town, knowing the RV was at least 6 miles away. Street lights lit my way and I set an even pace. I lost myself in thought as I walked, finally deeming myself far enough away to call.

"Nate, I'm at the corner of Pinon and Rio Grande. Can you come pick me up. I'm clear of the Seekers."

"Yup, on our way. That was close." He replied.

I stood on the corner trying not to look suspicious until Nate pulled up and I got in.

"They said they had a sighting of humans on the other side of town an hour ago. It could have been Rob's group or it could have been other humans. Regardless, this night is not over. I think I should drop you guys back off at the RV and go join Rob's group in case they need me."

"As much as I want to go with you, you're probably right." Nate agreed. Evan and Ellen were silent.

Nate turned the radio on again as we drove back to the RV. When we got there I moved into the driver's seat and waved goodbye to them. I didn't envy Nate being alone with the arguing couple for the next few hours.

I turned the car toward the other side of town and changed my radio to the secure frequency that Rob's team was using.

"Rob, I'm coming your way."

"Oh, good. We could use you, Burns. We've been dodging Seekers all night. We found a pair of humans and they say that they've got five more hidden in one of these houses. We need to get them out."

"Do they know I'm coming?" It was a loaded question. The way Gail's group had responded to me had made an impact.

"These two do but we had no way to warn the other five. If you find them first you're going to have to get them to trust you." Rob said.

"Fat chance of that." I mumbled under my breath.

"I know, I know, but what other choice do we have?" He asked.

"Will one of them come with me to get the other humans? I can pretend to arrest them."

"Maybe. Hold on." I heard Rob talking in muted tones on the other side of the comm.

"The man, Russell, will." Rob replied.

"Great. The rest of you should get back to the motorhome. There are too many Seekers out tonight."

"Agreed."

I pulled up the area where Rob was and saw a tall man giving a woman a tearful hug goodbye. She got into the car with Blake, Kim, and Tom while Rob walked the man over to meet me.

"Russell, this is Burns. He will save your life if you let him. I promise you."

The man, of middle age and serious eyes, nodded. He spoke quietly, "Tonight I don't think I have any other choice."

"No, you don't." Rob agreed. "But we promise we're here to help. We'll keep Leora safe."

He climbed into the front seat with me. "Rob, you need to empty the car and come back here. We don't have enough seats." He nodded and turned to leave. "Alright Russell, I've already had a run-in with these Seekers once tonight so they know me. I'm going to pretend to have arrested you if we run into them again but I promise you on my own life I will not let you get inserted, okay?"

He nodded, looking determined. "My family is in a house four blocks over. We haven't seen Seekers in twenty minutes."

"Probably because they were over talking to me." I said. "Let's go get your family."

I pulled away from the curb and turned toward the house he had mentioned. "Will they spook if we pull up in front of it?" I asked.

"Yes. Best to park around the corner."

"Ok. I'm going to put on night-vision goggles and pretend to be human unless we run into Seekers. Hopefully we can get them all in the car with that tactic. I'm going to give you the keys to the car and you're going to drive away with the first load. I'll wait for Rob to come back with the others. Okay?"

I handed him the keys and we got out of the car. We quickly walked around the corner and went straight into the house. Russell already had the code for the front door—I didn't ask how he knew it— and we entered quietly. A flashlight immediately flashed into Russell's face, and, finding it human, flashed into mine. Seeing it coming I lifted my hands to block it and closed my eyes in my night vision goggles, knowing that light would hurt badly and that they'd see a reflection that I didn't want them to see. Added to that, I was dressed as a Seeker.

Arms grabbed me and pulled me aside. I forced myself not to struggle. "Russell!"

Russell, seeing the reaction, reached out to stop it. "No, don't. He's safe. I promise. He's come to help us out. We have to trust him."

The hands dropped me reluctantly and I got a view of an older woman who looked at me searchingly. She was suspicious, but clearly regarded Russell's word on the subject as strong enough not to go against it.

Russell was hugging a teenager and whispering to her. "Cindy, get Motter and Franklin. I'm taking them to a safe location. Pops and Nan are going to wait with this man, Burns, for another car that is coming back for them. You can't ask questions. You just need to trust us."

He let her go and went to an elderly man who was standing in the corner, "Pops, you and Nan are going to wait with Burns for another car to come. He's going to get you to a safe location. We'll meet you there. No matter what you trust Burns. No matter what. He helps humans like us. See I'm still human, he hasn't tried to hurt me. I just met his whole human family, and they all assured me we can trust him. Do you understand?"

The man nodded, his face serious.

The teenager Cindy appeared back in the entryway holding the hand of two young boys. They looked to be about 5 and 8. My heart ached for this family, that was actually a family. Somehow they'd stayed together. Two grandparents, two parents, and three children. I was so glad we were able to help them.

Russell picked up the youngest boy and Cindy held the hand of the other boy and they moved to leave. "No matter what. You trust him." Russell said, then he left through the front door, leaving me alone with Pops and Nan.

"My friend Rob is coming back for us. I have radio contact with him," I tapped my earpiece so they understood, "and he should be here within the next ten minutes. I need you to understand something. Russell told you to trust me no matter what and I need you to do that. I know that's hard to do when you meet someone at the end of the world. But if Seekers come I'm going to go out there and act like a Seeker. I have a badge that clears their system and my eyes reflect light. They already met me once tonight at a close call, so they know me as Seeker Johannes. If that happens, do not run. Do not do anything except stay hidden. You can trust me."

Nan and Pops looked at each other uneasily and then nodded back at me uncertainly. Despite all our preparing them for this, trust was not won easily these days.

"Remember, Russell said you could trust me." I reminded them.

We waited in silence for about five minutes and then some movement drew me to the window.

A car was pulling up in front of the house. It was a Seeker vehicle. I sighed. I turned toward the two humans. "Get down, away from the windows. Don't run. Trust me."

I tugged off my night vision goggles and Nan gasped. I ignored her as I walked out onto the front lawn. "Good evening, Seekers. Good to see you again. I see we're following the same leads again. This house is clear, but there were humans in it recently. I believe they went North. I'd love it if you helped me out of this one. It's a big trail for one person."

The two Seekers that I'd talked to earlier looked at me in surprise. "Well, we could do that, right James?"

"Um, yeah. We don't really get human sightings very much. You clearly do this all the time. What do you need from us?" The second Seeker said.

"Well, while you two get clearance to go with me, I will just lock up the house. I know of a house a few blocks over that was broken into. We should search that one for evidence of where they're going next. Are there any security cameras in the neighborhood we could tap into?"

The two shared a look and then shook their heads. No security cams. Thank goodness. "That's okay. We'll just do what we can with what we find. Give me one minute."

I turned around and walked back into the house. "Nan, Pops? Rob will be here in a few minutes. I'm going to go with the Seekers to draw them off you. The car will pull up in front of the house. Waste no time, just run right out there and get in, okay?"

Nan nodded, but Pops just grimaced. "How do we know we can trust this Rob?"

"Shine a flashlight in his eyes." I suggested, and then turned and left, making a show of locking the door behind me. I got in the car with the two Seekers and directed them toward the house that Rob had been at just twenty minutes earlier. We searched it and I made a big show of finding food containers in bags in the kitchen, a few long hairs in the shower catch, and a cache of supplies in the closet. I dragged the search on for as long as I could before I heard Rob over the comms say "Got them, all clear."

Relieved, I turned to the two Seekers and said, "Is there anything you think I've missed?"

"No, sir. The question is where are they going now?"

"Well, they were on foot, so they can't have gone far. Should we check out a few of the other houses in the area?"

They nodded their assent and together we searched two more houses before the sun came up. With no sign of any other humans and dawn approaching I caught a ride with them back to the Seeker station, making some comment about how I had some paperwork to turn in. Once I got there and the two of them disappeared around a corner, I walked outside and called a taxi. I had them drop me off just a few blocks away from where the RV was and walked the rest of the way, completely exhausted.

I opened the door to the RV to find most of the crew asleep. Russell was sitting in the front seat of the RV, talking with Nate. Russell's smile faltered when he saw me and I realized that he wasn't comfortable around me. Despite having saved his life and the lives of his family in the last 12 hours, I was still a Soul. I nodded to him, understanding his predicament. He got up without saying a word and went to the back of the RV, squeezing onto a bed with his wife. We were quite crowded and would need to head back to the Silo tomorrow.

Nate leaned over and spoke into my ear quietly, "We're going to set them up with some tech to monitor Seeker activity so they can avoid them better, but they would rather not come to the Silo with us."

I was surprised, but after I thought about it I realized that this family probably would never trust me fully. They let me save them last night but wouldn't allow us to really help them further, besides the tech to help them avoid Seekers.

Pushing the thoughts aside for another time, I walked into the back to find all the bunks taken. I sighed. It was too much to hope after such a long night to be able to get some sleep on an actual bed. I went back to the front of the RV and sat on one of the couches, laying down and trying to fit my 6-foot-plus frame onto the tiny thing. I was so tired I was out in minutes.


	58. Communication

I awoke to the RV moving. We were driving, somewhere in New Mexico presumably, unless I'd been out longer than I'd thought. I stood from my scrunched up seat on the couch, stretching my aching back muscles, and then approached the front of the bus where Nate was driving with Rob in the copilot's seat.

"What's up?" I asked.

"We're dropping the Bakers off in Las Cruces. They are going to make it alright on their own, I think, with the help from the tech that we're giving them." Nate explained.

"What are we giving them?" I asked.

"Everything we have, almost. The trackers, the radios, the laptops with access to the Seeker bases. This way they can avoid detection and put out false data and erase data from the system about themselves. Russell is pretty techie, he just didn't have stuff to work with. Now he does. It's a pity he doesn't want to come back to the Silo with us but he thinks it would be a greater risk. And if the kids got taken, they could lead everyone back to us. We don't think they're strong enough to fight an insertion. This way, he says, is safer." Rob said, then he added, "And he just doesn't want to be around you."

"Yes, there is that." Nate agreed.

"We tried to convince him to come live with us but he's determined. So we're doing our best to make sure that he survives, that his family survives." Rob continued.

"We've made sure he has ways to contact us, through Eric, though, so if they get in trouble we can come help them." Nate added.

"Well, it sounds like you've done the best you can." I said, resigned to the fact that Russell and his family would not be trusting us enough to really keep them safe. "How far to Las Cruces?"

"About twenty minutes. You slept a long time." Nate said, "The Bakers are all in the cars. They didn't want to drive with us in here. We thought about giving them the cars, but wanted to check with you first."

"Yes, yes, cars are easy to come by. We have more and we're just going straight home after this, right? Give them the cars." I said. Anything to help them stay alive and free.

"I thought you'd say that but I didn't say anything to them about it." Nate said.

I nodded. Hopefully we gave them the best chance we could.

I turned around to the little kitchenette and found myself a banana and a few cereal bars for breakfast. Then I sat back down on the couch to ride out the next twenty minutes until we stopped. I pulled out my cell phone and called Jess, praying that she was somewhere in the silo that had a little bit of reception.

"Burns!" She answered. Her voice was upbeat with a tinge of relief in it.

"Jess! How are you? How are the kids?" I asked.

"Oh, we're good. Rayne has been moping a bit since Hadley left but she'll get over it. Devante says 'Mama' now more every day and I'm working with him on how to say 'Dada.' He'll get it soon. Maybe by the time you get back he'll be able to say it!"

"Oh, I miss you." I said, wishing I was there to hear my son's first words. He was growing so fast.

"We miss you too. Come home soon."

"We should be home tomorrow, maybe the next day."

"Oh really! That's great news! Thanks for letting us know. Oh, I was going to tell you: Charissa and Paul got into…..!" She broke up.

I glared at my phone in frustration, knowing the problem was probably coming from her end and there was nothing I could do to fix it. "Honey, you're breaking up on me. I'm going to hang up. I'll see you tomorrow. I love you." I hung up and sighed. It had been nice to at least hear her voice for a short time. I worried about what Charissa and Paul got into but there was nothing I could do about it until I got back.

I looked over at the sleeping compartments and saw that Ellen was stirring in her bunk. She sat up groggily and came over to me, sitting by me on the couch, stealing one of my breakfast bars, and munching on it silently.

"So, good job last night." I said.

"Ummm." She mumbled, nodding around a bite of breakfast bar. She chewed and swallowed and then turned to me, eyeing me a moment before asking seriously, "Do you and Jess ever fight?"

"Sure we do. All couples do. It's part of life as a couple. Everyone has disagreements and arguments and problems. Figuring out how to get through them is what makes your marriage stronger. Learning to fight clean, without being dirty, without hurting each other, just learning how to make your point once and leave it at that and forgive afterward. That is one of the hallmarks of a good marriage." I said.

"Evan and I fight dirty." She said, understanding dawning in her eyes, "We try to hurt the other person, but that's not love, is it?"

"No, it's not. Love doesn't fight dirty." I replied, giving her arm a gentle pat.

She stood abruptly and moved back toward the bunks. "I have to talk to Evan. Privately."

"There aren't a lot of private places in this RV, but we're stopping in a few minutes. I bet you could find a moment then."

She nodded and woke Evan up with a kiss, whispering into his ear. He grumpily turned over and ignored her for a moment but her whispering eventually won him over and he turned and appraised her for a moment before nodding warily. I turned my attention away from them, wanting to give them the privacy that they needed. They were young. They'd figure it out.

The RV creaked to a stop as we pulled into the rest stop that we were leaving the Bakers at. I stayed in the bus as the rest of the family got out to say goodbye. I didn't want to make things any more uncomfortable on them than they already were. Russell was just trying to do what was best for his family, and he was right in his belief that his children, the two little boys Franklin and Motter especially, wouldn't be able to fight an insertion. The less they knew about me, the better.

After about twenty minutes, the rest of the crew got back on board. All eight of us were riding back in the RV, so it was a bit crowded. I took up residence on one of the bunks, just above Ellen and Evan. I wasn't trying to listen to their conversation, but it was almost unavoidable in such a small space.

"I'm sorry too." Evan said.

"I didn't mean to be such a snob, it just came out that way." Ellen whispered.

Evan chuckled. "And I didn't mean to laugh, it just happened." he responded. I heard a smack and more laughter.

"I wish we were home right now." Ellen said.

"Me too. This bus is too crowded." Evan agreed.

I purposely turned my attention elsewhere, thinking about Jess and my kids. Jess was doing so much better these last few weeks. And our kids were a joy to us. Devante was growing more every day and Rayne was becoming a nice young lady. I worried that neither of them was getting the social interaction that they needed to develop properly but Devante at least had Hope, who was just a little bit older than him, to play with. And now Rayne had Hadley some of the time. We did the best we could with what we had.

I thought back to our phone call and wondered what Paul and Charissa got into. I sighed. Hopefully it was nothing too bad.

We'd gotten Joy at our first stop on this raid, so we were hauling back enough doses for Charissa to have for nearly 6 months. We'd have raid for more at that point, but this at least gave her a comfortable cushion.

Somewhere between those thoughts and the steady hum of the RV's engine, I was lulled to sleep. I awoke hours later to find most of the members of the crew playing a quiet game of Hearts. When they saw me awake they smiled and beckoned me over with cheerful waves. I climbed down off my bunk, and joined Ellen, Evan, Tom, Blake, and Kim at the table. Rob was driving with Nate as his copilot.

They dealt me in and we played a few hands. I was focused on my tricks, thinking about playing a heart, when suddenly Rob cursed up ahead.

"Checkpoint! Everyone get in the bunks now! Just like we practiced!"

The cards were quickly shoved under a seat and everyone ran to get in the bunks. Evan and Ellen doubled up and Tom and Kim climbed in the same one, making room for everyone else to have their own bunks. I rushed to the front of the RV where Rob was still at the wheel.

"Ok Burns, I'm going to slide out of the seat and you're going to slide in. We have four cars behind us and two in front of us, so don't hit the gas or the brakes too hard." The bus was still moving, this was dangerous, but not as dangerous as if Rob was caught at the wheel. He slid out, I slid in, putting my feet on the pedals. With only one little shudder I took control of the RV, driving it safely forward. Rob ran to the back to the RV and slipped into his bunk.

I watched as the two cars in front of me went through the checkpoint. It seemed simple enough. The Seekers just flashed a light in the eyes of the driver and talked for a few minutes. I could handle that. It was our turn next. I called out to the backseat.

"Our turn next guys. Everyone pretend to sleep. This is going to be fine."

I pulled up to the Seeker and rolled down the window. The height of the RV caused her to bend her neck backward deeply to look up.

She called out to me, "Hello, may I have your name and place of residence, please?"

"I"m John Terrance, from Colorado Springs, Colorado. Would you like my identification and registration, ma'am?" I asked politely.

"No, that won't be necessary, Mr. Terrance." She said as she flashed her light in my eyes. "We're looking for wild humans tonight, but none have been sighted in an RV, so you're free to go. Thank you for stopping."

"Wild humans? Are there any nearby? Do I need to be watchful?" I asked, pretending to be afraid.

"It's nothing to concern yourself with, Mr. Terrance, they were spotted south of here several hours ago and are probably long gone. You are perfectly safe."

I nodded my head as if her words had assured me and then said, "May I continue on, Seeker?"

"Oh, of course, Mr. Terrance, have a pleasant drive." She replied.

"I will. Thank you."

I drove forward in silence for several miles before the crew felt safe enough to climb out of the bunks.

"Those always feel anticlimactic." Nate said. "They never suspect you of anything."

"No, we Souls trust each other." I said, "What I'm doing is so unheard of they wouldn't even think to suspect me unless there was overwhelming evidence. Back in Deer Trail they suspect me of something but they can't even believe it's this. It's too big, too much of a betrayal. They check in with me but they don't expect to find anything. With these random checks, when I use another name, they don't even blink. They just assume I'm telling the truth."

"You come from a crazy race." Nate said, rolling his eyes.

"So do you." I replied back, smiling.

We only had a few more hours drive before we reached the silo. Due to the checkpoint, we decided to go the long way around and come in the back way, just to make sure no one followed us. I was beyond ready to kiss Jess, hug Rayne, and hold Devante.

The miles rolled on, one after the other. I pulled off at a gas station so Nate could take over driving. As I filled up the tank, one of the other patrons came over to talk, his gaze admiring of the RV.

"How many does it sleep? He asked.

"Six, comfortably." I replied, with a smile.

"Could I get a tour?"

"Oh, sir, I would, but my kids and partner are asleep in there. I wouldn't want to wake them up." I told him with regret. He bought it hook, line, and sinker.

"Oh, of course not, no. Don't worry about it. Another time then." He replied, smiling.

I nodded.

I finished gassing up and went inside the station to grab a few sodas and bags of chips. I smiled at the other customers like nothing was wrong and climbed back into the bus a few minutes later.

"Nate, stay where you are. We can switch in a few miles. We have interested people here watching us." I said, and Nate, tucked behind the driver's seat hiding from view, murmured his assent.

I pulled the RV around the station pump and out of the parking lot and back onto the highway, the steering wheel moving smoothly under my hands. When we were down the road a few miles I pulled over and switched spots with Nate, my exhaustion hitting me with full force, and went to lay down. I was out in minutes.

When I awoke we were pulling into the silo. I sat up with a start, glad to be home and eager to see my family. I was one of the first off the bus, and I walked straight into the arms of my love. She had Devante in one arm and I picked him up so he wouldn't get squashed between us. I could hear everyone getting off behind me, greeting their friends and family members, but I only had eyes for Jess.

"How have you been? How have things been going here?" I asked her, my eyes taking in the details of her face, soft and honey warm, with a hint of exhaustion in the eyes and joy in the smile. I pulled her back into another hug. "I'm so glad to be home."

"We're glad you're home. Things have been fine here. I'm sure Sarge and Dawn will have things to tell you, especially about Paul and Charissa, but as for our family, things are mostly fine. We missed you. Devante can almost say 'Dada.' Right, Devante?" Jess tickled our son and he giggled.

"Mama Mama." He gurgled.

"We're still working on it." She shrugged.

I beamed at him, proud beyond words of my son. He was talking! I had missed his first word. I felt awful for it, but so glad to be here to hear him speak now.

Rayne was standing off to the side, not her usual exuberant self. She gave me a half-hearted hug.

"What's wrong Rayne?"

She shrugged. Jess gave me a look, her eyebrow raised. Later she mouthed at me. I nodded. Whatever was going on, she didn't want to talk about it now, here in front of everyone.

The group slowly dispersed, each group heading off to their own apartments or to the Main Tennis Area for a bite to eat. Our family walked slowly back to our apartment. Jess and I held hands as I held Devante in the other arm. Rayne trailed after us, walking on her own.

When we got to the apartment, while Rayne was still behind us, I set Devante down and pulled Jess in for a long, slow kiss.

"I missed you." I whispered, my forehead touching hers. Her eyes welled up with tears. "I missed you too. So much."

I sighed. There had to be an easier way. My going on raids was helping my family, but it was hurting my family too. It was necessary that I go, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that I needed to stay, too. I didn't know what to do.

My thoughts were interrupted when Rayne walked through the door. Jess hurriedly wiped her eyes and picked Devante up to cover her sniffles. Rayne, however, was so in her own world that she didn't notice. She went straight to her room and shut the door with more force than necessary. I looked after her in wonder, pondering what had changed in my daughter so quickly that she was being moody and withdrawn.

"Puberty." Jess said matter-of-factly, seeing my gaze.

Puberty. Every father's nightmare. It had finally arrived. I wasn't ready for it. She was only twelve!

"Maybe she's just not feeling well." I hedged.

Jess looked at me with disbelief. "Right. She cried over a bowl of ice cream just because she wasn't feeling well? Slammed the door in my face? Was short and irritable with Rachel and me?"

"Maybe?" I said repeated stupidly.

"Well, there's nothing we can do to stop it. We're just going to have to deal with it." Jess said. I sighed.

I turned my attention back to my wife. "What can I do to make life easier for you? How can I help, now that I'm home?"

She smiled tenderly at me. "Just you being here is going to help a lot. I don't know what specifically to tell you to do, just be here."

I nodded, pulling her into my embrace. Devante babbled as he pushed his chubby little arms up into my face, interrupting our hug. "Dada!"

"He said it! Dada! Dada!" I repeated, tickling his stomach. "Good job Devante! That's right, I'm Dada!"

He was all smiles as I pulled him from Jess's arms into my own. Jess was beaming at my side, her hand on my shoulder. "I told you we'd been working on it!"

"Dada! Dada! Dada!" Devante babbled happily, overjoyed to be the center of attention.

I kissed him on his head and put him down in his playpen. Distracting him with a pile of blocks and a musical bear, I waited until he was occupied before I pulled Jess to me. Rayne was in her room, for who knew how long, so I was going to take advantage of the privacy while I had it.

"Mrs. Flowers, would you dance with me?" She smiled and walked into my arms. We danced to the tune of our son's musical toy, enjoying being back in each other's arms.

"I missed you so much." I said again, knowing I couldn't say it enough.

"Me too." She said, resting her head on my shoulder, "I feel lost without you sometimes."

Her admission tore my heart open. I had to find a way to make our raids shorter and more productive. I was determined.

I rested my chin on her head, content to just sway back and forth. The problem was one for tomorrow. Today I just needed to dance with my girl.

The next day I met with Sarge, Dawn, and Nate for a recap of what happened while we were gone. We were all scrunched into my office, Sarge and Dawn sitting with Nate standing behind them in the tiny room as I sat behind my desk.

"So tell me what went on while we were gone. I already heard there was some drama with Paul and Charissa." I said after everyone had gotten as comfortable as possible.

"What'd they do now?" Nate grumbled.

"They got into a huge shouting match in the cafeteria." Sarge said.

"It wasn't so bad, actually." Dawn put in, "I'd say that it was quite healing for Charissa. She got a lot off her chest. And Paul probably needed to hear a lot of it."

"Oh, well, that's good, I think." I said.

"Yeah. Paul was quiet for a few days afterward but he's back to his usual self. Charissa had a hard time with Kim and Ellen both being gone but Jess and Rachel both made an effort to include her and she didn't resist like she used to. So that was encouraging. I think she'll be relieved to have Kim back now." Dawn put in.

Dawn had been meeting with Charissa regularly since Charissa had started taking the Joy. Though she kept the content of their meetings private, she had relayed to me that things were going much better.

"How was the rest of things, other than Paul and Charissa?" I asked, feeling satisfied that whatever had gone on between them was resolved as well as could be expected.

"The hydro garden is flourishing. The water tanks need cleaning. Eric wants to talk to you about some upgrades in his lair. Rayne is acting weird." Sarge summed up.

"Rayne is going through changes, just like any normal preteen girl." Dawn put in, "Rachel is having a harder time with this pregnancy than the last one, I'm keeping a close eye on her. We have a number of people who are getting a little stir-crazy being stuck in here. I'm thinking about training Charissa in some Healing techniques so that we have someone besides me who can help in an emergency. Plus, it will give her purpose."

"That's a great idea." Nate approved. I nodded too.

"The twins are restless." Sarge added. Dawn nodded her agreement. "Them and Paul need something more to do than working around the silo. They need to get out of here for an afternoon or something."

"We'll consider it." Nate said, looking at me for approval.

I thought about what letting Johnny, Davy, and Paul out of the silo would mean. Sure, they were combustable and needed to be let loose every once in a while, but they were also headstrong and willful and none of them listened to me or Nate very well. Taking them on a field trip would be risky. It'd have to be carefully planned.

"That's a tough one." I finally said, not willing to commit to anything.

"Well, that's all I've got." Sarge said with a note of finality. He didn't like long meetings. Dawn nodded.

Nate clapped his hands and said "Break!" before turning and exiting the tiny room. Sarge was right on his heels. Dawn stuck around for a moment.

"Charissa is improving, but she still needs the Joy. You brought me a six month supply this time, but eventually we'll need more. I think we need to think of this as a long-term issue for her."

I nodded. "Okay. Thank you for updating me." I said. Joy was hard to come by, but hopefully we'd find a way to get it that was safe for our raid team and plentiful in its supply.

I trudged back toward my apartment, the twins, Paul, and Charissa on my mind. We'd have to do something to manage the tensions in the family. We didn't want anyone to do something out of desperation or stupidity if we could help it. Plus there was Rayne. I supposed every family went through the awkward preteen and teenage years but I was not ready for it. I remembered the bright-eyed Rayne that I first met when she was 8 years old and wished for a moment that it had all stayed that way, then dismissed those thoughts. Rayne was growing into a wonderful young lady, I was proud of her, and I could handle some moodiness and attitude. She was dealing with extraordinary circumstances with tremendous grace. She deserved some understanding from me as her father. I promised myself I'd be patient with her as she went through everything she was dealing with. And Jess would need my patience and understanding too. She was dealing with Rayne and Devante, plus the drama of the silo family, plus her own insecurities and fears. She had a lot on her plate and I needed to be a supportive husband to her. I sighed as I walked, feeling the weight of our little world on my shoulders. Being responsible for twenty other lives was hard.


	59. Aeration

I wiped my forehead, careful not to let any of my sweat drip into the water tank I was cleaning. It was a laborious task, cleaning the tanks, but it had to be done. We had two of these tanks, 33,000 gallons each, and emptying one of them to clean it had been a huge affair. A special Soul cleaning solution helped us a great deal—we weren't stuck scrubbing too much by hand—but it still required the giant tanks to be empty to use.

Cleaning the tanks was just one of many tasks I'd assigned myself for my time at home. I was also re-wiring some of the apartments with Nate, getting Eric new equipment for his lair, working in the garden, and taking day trips to re-supply.

I climbed out of the tank and sealed it up, finished for the day.

"Thanks. We're all done here." I told Paul, who had been helping me. "I'll see you at dinner."

He nodded and wandered off toward his apartment without a goodbye. He'd been unusually quiet since we got back from our last raid and he had his blowout fight with Charissa, but I was thankful for the reprieve from his constant questioning.

I pulled off the protective suit that I'd been wearing and gathered up my tools. I started walking toward the Garden Pod, where our tools were kept. On the way I passed Rachel and Hope walking toward the Main Tennis Area. I waved hello.

"Hi Rachel. How are you today?"

"Hi Burns! We're good. We're just headed to the playroom for a movie and a snack, aren't we Hope? Say 'Hi,' Hope."

Hope smiled at me, her dark eyes sparkling with impish glee. "Hi Burns."

I gave her a special smile and then moved on past them. Next I passed Eric, walking slowly toward his lair.

"Hi Eric."

"Burns." He grunted in greeting.

"How are things?" I asked. We met every day to go over Seeker reports and new data, but it wasn't uncommon for me to check in with him more than once.

"All quiet. Still no sightings in the Western US these past few days. A couple in the Eastern US these last few weeks but those are out of our range." He summarized.

I nodded. Nothing had changed since his report this morning. "Let me know if anything changes."

"Not like I have anything else to do." He replied grumpily.

I let the comment pass. He was always grumpy and it was best to just let him be. Being scrunched in with this many people was hard on his introverted personality.

I finally made it to the Garden Pod and walked in to find Sean harvesting vegetables for tonight's dinner. He had largely taken over the kitchen for Eric, with the ladies helping with the legwork. Eric was too occupied with searching out leads for the raiding party to feed twenty-one people every day, three times a day.

"How's it going Sean?"

"Good. Tonight is spaghetti and Caesar salad. Garlic bread." He replied lightly, harvesting lettuce as he spoke.

"Sounds awesome. If I haven't said it recently, thank you so much for all you do for us." I said. I needed to thank all my people more often, make sure they knew they were appreciated. It was a little thing, but one of those that couldn't be overlooked. I made a mental note to check in with my other workers more and be more vocal about my appreciation of them.

"Oh Burns, thanks for saying so. It's the least I can do. I enjoy it, anyway." He said, turning a little red under my praise.

I stored my tools in the shed we'd constructed for that use and left the pod without another word. I made my way back toward my apartment, done for the day. I entered the apartment quietly, knowing Devante might be down for a nap still, and found Jess sitting on the floor with him playing.

"Hi beautiful." I said, smiling down at her. I leaned down and kissed her on the head, then stole Devante for a hug and a kiss. Holding him close I rubbed his head playfully. "How has your day been, Devante?"

Devante babbled "Dada, Dada!" and I smiled before putting him back down on the floor.

Cole nudged my leg, happy to have me home. I reached down one leg to pet him and looked around for Rayne. "Where's Rayne?"

"She's with Hope and Rachel. They are doing a movie and Rachel asked Rayne to watch Hope for a while, to give her a night off. She needs to put her feet up. Her pregnancy has been pretty rough. She's 4 months in now and is still having pretty extreme morning sickness. Dawn has had to give her fluids twice already."

I grimaced at the news. Poor Rachel. It was rough having a pregnancy in a place like this. So little could be done if a problem happened. We had the basic supplies—Dawn had insisted on that the first time Rachel had gotten pregnant—but the more advanced Healing supplies were too hard to get ahold of. Hopefully there were no more complications with this pregnancy and Dawn could manage it with IV fluids and nausea meds.

"Well," I said, "Since we have a night without Rayne, what do you say we put this boy to bed and have ourselves a fun night of our own?"

"What are you thinking?"

"Well, I have a fully charged laptop and a copy of The Martian that we could watch." I said with a smile.

She nodded happily. "Sounds good. Everyone else is going to be jealous. We're going to have to have a movie night so everyone can watch it. I know a lot of people want to see it."

"Well, you can watch it twice then." I said.

She smiled and picked up Devante. "Want to go to bed early, buddy?" She asked hopefully. He babbled and grabbed her ponytail. "I didn't think so. I guess we'll have dinner and then do our movie."

We walked together down to the cafeteria hand in hand. Things had been wonderful between us the last few weeks and I wanted to stick around the silo, just to revel in the happiness that surrounded my marriage and my wife. We were acting like newlyweds again.

We sat down in the cafeteria after getting our food, sitting with Rachel and Rob. Rachel looked tired, but peaceful.

"Thank you so much for lending us Rayne tonight. She's nice to have around." Rob said, covering Rachel's hand with his one. I noticed her hand was skin and bones and winced. She'd lost a lot more weight than I'd realized.

"Of course." I said, "Borrow her anytime you like. You need the rest, Rachel. Anything we can do to help." Beside me Jess nodded and reached out to give her friend a side hug. Rachel's smile was tired but genuine.

"I'm sure I'll be fine soon. I just have to get through the next month or so and it'll ease off." She said, a note of determination in her voice.

Behind us Johnny, Davy, and Paul were having a loud debate about which car we had would go the fastest if we needed to escape quickly. Then Johnny started talking about which guns they'd take with them, which ones would blow off the heads of Seekers the best.

Rob heard and looked at me with an arched eyebrow. I grimaced back. I didn't know what to do about them. They were a violent group of guys who understood actions better than words. They tolerated me only because I kept them alive, but they had no qualms about killing other Souls. Their careless comments hurt me, but I couldn't let that fact be known.

"So, I think we need to find a young woman for Sean." Jess spoke up, her voice just loud enough to distract me from the conversation going on behind me.

"I agree." Rachel said. "He's such a nice young man, and so good looking!" Both Jess and Rachel giggled. Rob and I looked at each other with amusement. Our wives had crushes on the chef.

"Now that we're talking about it, actually, the women are way outnumbered by men here. We need more ladies. You need to get on that." Jess said, laughing around a bite of spaghetti.

"Yeah, maybe the uh, ahem, gentlemen over there, would mellow out if we got some ladies in here." Rachel giggled. I sighed silently, smiling. Our wives were dangerous when they were together. It was a good thing Ellen and Kim were sitting at another table with Charissa tonight or we'd be overwhelmed by giggling women.

"More of this silliness? You're crazy." Rob muttered. That just set the women off even more and we sat there attracting attention as our wives sputtered and laughed at our sides. I shook my head. They were so tired they were slap happy. That had to be it.

Whatever it was, it had distracted the men behind us and they'd stopped talking about guns and cars. I was thankful. Doing that in the cafeteria in front of everyone wasn't the best idea. it put people on edge thinking about being infiltrated and having to hide in the safe rooms or worse, escape.

After dinner we walked back to our apartment. I put Devante down for bed in our bedroom, standing by his crib to watch him as he slept. He was so innocent and peaceful, ignorant of the crisis going on around him. Sometimes I envied him.

I wandered back to the living room, balanced the laptop on a stack of books on the coffee table so it was at eye-level, and settled on the couch with Jess. I put my arm around her and pulled her close. The movie started and I took a moment to just appreciate my wife and my life. It was complicated, but I was glad I lived her, with her. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I nuzzled her neck and whispered in her ear "I love you."

She turned toward me and kissed me lightly, "I love you too. I'm so glad you're home."

The sentiment had been repeated multiple times in the last few days and I took it to heart. Somehow Eric and I had to figure out a better way to locate humans, and go in with a strike force to find them, rather than blundering around blindly hoping to come across them. If we could do that then I could keep my supply trips down to one or two day jaunts and we could only leave the silo for raids if we were sure we'd run into humans.

I decided I'd think about it another time. For now I was going to watch Matt Damon ride around on Mars in a rover and make out with my wife.

—

The next afternoon I wandered into Eric's lair, determined to find a way to focus our efforts more succinctly.

"Eric," I got straight to the root of the problem, "We can't keep wandering around at possible sites hoping to stumble across humans. We need better intel." I winced at the delivery of that statement, knowing it came across quite harsh. "Sorry. You are doing great. I didn't mean to infer otherwise. I know you're doing the best you can. But it's dangerous for us to be checking out so many possible locations, we almost got caught last time, and I'd like to be home more."

"Okay." Eric replied.

One word. I bit my tongue in frustration. I was usually a patient man but Eric could get on my last nerve. "Okay, what? Can we do that?"

"Well, with the new equipment you got me we might be able to. It'll be a matter of timing on your part. Can you get to a place fast enough to save humans once they're sighted? If we close off our search area to places you can get to in one day, assuming a full day of driving time in any direction since there is no reason to stop with the RV except for gas, I can narrow my search grid to just that area. It means possibly losing people who are on the coasts, but that's just the reality of it. With that smaller search area I can be more focused. I wrote another new software to identify Seeker transmissions that mention wild humans, so that will help too. Once I have a sighting, you guys can go out and search in that specific area. If you don't find them in 48 hours, assume they've moved on and come back."

I nodded, approving of the plan. "How long before that type of thing will be ready?"

"Well, if I can get a little help in here, I could get it ready in a few weeks."

"Help? You want help? What kind of help, how can I help?" I asked, willing to give this man the moon if he needed it to make this happen. He'd never asked for help before.

"Rayne." He said. "She's old enough to be learning how to program and do software. She is good with technology. She's been in here a lot so she's used to the equipment. She doesn't complain and she listens to orders."

"I'll talk to her." I said after a brief hesitation. My daughter was acting strange lately but I would do everything short of chaining her to the desk to get her to help Eric. This was an unexpected but wonderful turn of events. Rayne often wandered around the silo without a purpose these days so giving her a job might actually help matters. Or at least I hoped so. I would have to approach it carefully though.

"Okay. I'll check back in with you later. I'll work on getting Rayne in here for you. Thank you again." I said, my heart soaring at what he was saying. If we could narrow our searches, it would be easier on everyone. Safer. Shorter trips. And Rayne would be a part of it. Somehow that made me happy.

I decided to run back to the apartments. I wasn't in a hurry but I needed the exercise. It was quite a ways back to the apartment, and I was quite warm by the time I got there. I walked into the apartment with a smile to find Rayne sitting on the couch in tears, Jess kneeling over her with a box of tissues.

"Whats wrong?" My mood instantly evaporated.

"Johnny and Davy said some things that hurt her feelings." Jess summarized quickly, her look telling me that we'd have a conversation about it later. For now I focused on Rayne.

"Rayne, whatever they said, ignore it. They don't matter. What they said doesn't matter." I said.

She sniffled and looked up at me, trying to smile. I felt my heart squeeze. I loved this little girl so much.

I gave her a hug and sat next to her on the couch, my arm around her. I debated telling her of Eric's request and decided against it. If she was in a bad mood now she might say no and I needed her to say yes.

"Would you like some ice cream? We could have game night tonight?" I suggested. Those were the two things that always cheered Rayne up. Ice cream and family game night.

"Could we invite Nate?"

"I'm sure he'd love to come." I said. Chronic bachelor that he was, Nate needed to be invited to family night every once in a while.

"Okay!" Jess clapped, "I'll go ask Nate, you two decide on the game. We'll do it after dinner when Devante is down for bed." Rayne gave a glimmer of a smile and I sat back appeased. Hopefully she'd cheer up.

"So what game do you want to play?" I asked.

Rayne pursed her lips for a moment. "I'm going to have to check out the stash in the playroom to decide." She said, matter-of-factly.

"Okay."

I leaned back on the couch and pulled her with me. We just sat in silence for a while, her leaning against my chest, me stroking her hair. She was growing up. She wouldn't be my little girl forever. I reigned in my thoughts before I got choked up.

I thought about bringing up Eric's proposition again and thought I'd lead into it.

"So Rayne, how have you been spending your days?" I asked.

"I dunno. Just helping out and stuff." She muttered. There were still tears leaking out around the corners of her eyes.

"Would you like a job?" I asked.

"I dunno. Maybe." She said. Her look told me it'd depend on what it was.

"Would you be willing to work with Eric?" Ever since the first day when she'd eaten his macaroni and cheese, Rayne had had Eric wrapped around her finger. He was nice only to her, and she knew she had a special relationship with him. If anyone could stand working with him, it'd be her.

"Maybe." She looked up at me, a glimmer of interest in her eyes.

"He could teach you how to find humans. Maybe more friends." I said.

She perked up a little. "Really? Do you think so?"

I nodded. "I do. Wanna give it a try?"

She nodded against my shoulder. "Okay."

"Okay." I repeated back to her, smiling. This would be a good thing.

Jess returned with Nate in tow.

"I heard you were having a bad day, Pumpkin." Nate said, giving her head a tussle.

Rayne smiled up at him. "Better now. I'm going to help Eric find humans!"

I gave a mental fist pump at her excitement, knowing Eric was going to be happy. Nate gave her a huge smile and reacted like I knew he would, "That's awesome, chica! When do you start?"

Rayne looked to me for the answer. I spoke up, "Anytime she wants, I think. Eric is ready for you."

She nodded and echoed me, "Yeah, anytime."

Jess eyed me with surprise but I could tell she didn't disapprove. I realized belatedly I should have talked to her first but I hoped she'd forgive me. Sorry I mouthed at her. She nodded and shrugged, in an at least she's happy sort of way. I knew what she meant.

Our dinner of homemade pizza was a hit followed by ice cream and game night. Rayne and Nate paired up and trounced Jess and me in a game of Sequence, but Jess got revenge in the rematch. I contented myself with watching the people I loved laughing and smiling with each other, having a worry-free night.

The next day I did a supply run. As an experiment I took Johnny with me. This was part of a concerted effort on the part of our leadership to get the people stuck in the silo out on a more regular basis. Some, like Jess, didn't want to leave the silo, happy to stay boxed in and safe, but some like the twins and Paul chaffed at being locked up and wanted some danger in their lives, so I decided that my one-day supply runs, while now more risky, were a good way to do that.

Today we were taking our truck to a number of grocery superstores to get perishable items. I would do the shopping and Johnny would stay in the truck and help me load when I came out. I was looking forward to having the help loading as I was usually on my own. The ride was made in silence, not a comfortable one. I tried to break it.

"So, Johnny, how have things been for you at the silo. Are you happy there?" I regretted the question almost as soon as I asked it, knowing the answer would probably disappoint me.

"It's a tiny little box and there is bad food and no available women and you won't let us out." Johnny replied tersely.

"But you're alive."

"True. We do appreciate that." He conceded. I always thought he was the more reasonable of the twins. Not that either of them was particularly sound minded.

"I really appreciate all the work you do around the silo, and the security you provide, especially while we're gone on raids." I put in, hoping it'd help to know how much he was appreciated. The armory that they'd brought with them when they were caught was still the bulk of our weapons supply. Souls destroyed weapons when they found them so getting new ones was out of the question.

"Mmm." He grunted in response. I thought that was about as good as it was going to get. I let us slip back into uncomfortable silence again. We came to the first store. I got out and walked around to his window.

"Don't take off the sunglasses for any reason. You have a cell phone. Use it to call me if necessary and I will drop everything and come out here to help you. Remember how Souls act, and act like that and no one will suspect you of anything."

I turned and nervously went into the store, trying to remind myself to be unhurried and unworried in my movements. I didn't need to be attracting attention either.

I placed bananas, apples, grapes, and oranges on the giant cart that I'd gotten. I moved to the dairy section and added milk, cheeses, and eggs (we'd tried to keep chickens but the smell was intolerable in the silo). Then I moved onto the meat section, throwing in pounds of hamburger, chicken, beef, pork, and fish. Then I moved on to the frozen section. We didn't have a lot of room for frozen items in our one chest freezer so all the room went to meat and one of the few treats we allowed ourselves: everyone in the silo had a weakness for ice cream. I continued on through the store adding a few odd items to the cart before going to the checkout. Everything was itemized for the purpose of stocking and then I was allowed to leave. I pulled the cart out to the truck and began unloading it into the back. The frozen and refrigerated food went into large coolers. Johnny jumped out of the front seat and silently helped throw things in, taking little care in how he stacked things and in what went where. I cleared my throat and nodded to my neatly stacked pile and his haphazard mess before starting to reorganize his pile. We had a lot to fit in today and would need things organized nicely before the day was done if everything was going to fit. He shrugged and went to sit in the front of the truck while I fixed his disorganized mess. Once I finished I joined him in the front of the truck.

One store down, five to go. We pulled out of the parking lot and drove forty-five minutes to the next super-store. I repeated the exercise, getting many of the same items, some different. We packed them all in the back of the truck and continued on. After the third store, I asked him where he wanted to go to lunch. Johnny, who had been moping in the front seat, perked right up.

"Lunch?"

"Yes, did you think I wasn't going to feed you today?"

"I am hungry." He admitted.

"Me too. There is a chicken place up here that is good. They have great sweet tea." I recommended.

He nodded. "I love fried chicken. Sean doesn't ever bother making it."

"I know." I agreed.

"Pretend to be asleep while we go through the drive thru." I requested. He nodded and leaned back in his seat.

Ten minutes later the two of us were elbows-deep in paper bags full of fried chicken and french fries. An all-American meal, I thought with satisfaction. Johnny was making moaning sounds of appreciation from his seat.

"Do you know how long it's been since I've gotten food from a drive-thru? Years. It's been years." He moaned again before inhaling another bite. "Oh my God this is so good."

I bit back a smile and took a long swig of my sweet tea. He seemed satisfied, at least. That was a win.

The rest of the day passed quickly. Now satisfied with food, Johnny was a lot more amenable. With out last group of food bought we headed toward home. As always we took a round-a-bout route toward the silo, just in case anyone was paying attention to us. It took us three hours, so we arrived after dinner.

Since Johnny and I had loaded everything during the day, a crew of Davy, Rob, Blake, Tom, Evan, Paul, and Nate were on hand to unload with Sean directing them on where to put everything. I felt relieved that another supply day was done. We had enough supplies on hand for another three weeks, so I had a comfortable stretch of time where I wouldn't have to leave the silo.

I settled down to a late dinner, glad that someone had thought to save me a plate, probably Jess. I scarfed down the chicken and rice, eager to get back to my apartment and my wife. Once I was done I left the cafeteria, passing Eric's lair on the way toward the apartment. It was late and I was surprised to find my daughter in the dark office with him, a pair of headphone around her neck and some perspiration on her forehead. She was concentrating hard on a computer screen and didn't even look up when I stopped by.

"Hi Burns." Eric mumbled.

"Hi you two. How are things going?"

"Good." Rayne mumbled, taking after her mentor, her eyes still on the screen.

"Come home at a reasonable time." I urged, knowing Eric would be here until all hours of the night. The man was a night owl and rarely slept before 2 AM. "Eric, make sure you send her home before 9 PM."

"Will do." He murmured from his chair in the corner. I shook my head and left the room. The two of them were almost funny, the way they were so focused on their work.

I continued on toward my apartment, running again to make the trip faster. I passed Sarge and Dawn walking together about halfway there. The two of them were arguing about something, I could tell by the tones of their voices. As I got closer I heard the details.

"No, the recipe clearly calls for two cloves of garlic. That is how many should be put in." Sarge was saying.

"But two cloves is not enough. Sometimes you have to go by taste and feel." Dawn argued.

"Then everyone would be walking around here with garlic breath. I don't know about you but I don't want to be around for that." Sarge spat out.

I laughed silently. The two of them could really argue about anything.

"Hi guys, bye guys!" I said as I passed them. They echoed the greeting back at me and returned to their argument.

I got to my apartment and opened the door to find Jess waiting for me. I swept her up in a hug and kissed her senseless.

"Hi." I whispered.

"Hi." She replied, touching her nose to mine. "Welcome home." I smiled. It was good to be home.


End file.
